Life, Day by Day

A friend posted on Facebook that they for the first time, will be spending Christmas in the hospital. It brought to mind our own hospital Christmas experience in 1976.   My brother Ted who survived a freak airgun shooting accident in July had been in the Iloilo Doctor's Hospital for the past 5 and a half months, slowly recovering from 6 major operations.  My brother and I who were both studying in Manila would be spending the holidays with him, our parents and Culing, my Lola's ever loyal cook cum helper. 

The Christmas season is here again and with it comes the year's most excessive consumerism ever. The buying frenzy begins on Black Friday (for those in the U.S.A) and continues all season long.  It's also the time for racking up credit card debt and getting all stressed up with decorating, parties, shopping, spending etc,. etc., etc...Arghhhh! Christmas isn't about presents ...Jesus was born in a manger bereft of even the most essential physical comfort, so why has the celebration of His birth turned into so much materialism, and the gift-giving and decorating part have become so important that the essence of Christmas becomes secondary?  Last year, my family and I have decided to cut back on our Christmas decorations.  We did not put up our big tree, instead I got a table top tree which we decorated with LED lights which uses less electricity.  It was enough to put a fascinated smile on our little girl's face.  We will use it again this year adding ribbon...

Christmas when I was a child was all about tradition...the family gatherings at my grandparents whether in Manila or in Silay, the "you have to go to sleep or Santa won't come" threat after dinner, the opening of gifts and noche buena at midnight, the Christmas morning breakfast and mass, and luncheon with all the other relatives and extended families.  After my maternal grandfather died, my maternal grandmother soon after moved to Bacolod.  Although Christmas celebrations continued to be traditional, it stayed local...meaning we stopped going to Manila for the holiday season.  Then my uncle (Dad's brother) and paternal grandfather died within a month of each other.  And so, that year because my Dad's side of the family did not want to celebrate in Silay with all the memories of Christmas past, we went to Manila and Christmas Eve was spent in a hotel room near Paco Park and New Year's eve in the boat coming back to Negros.