"THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTMAS"

   

"CHRISTMAS ISNT A SEASON, ITS A FEELING"

  Christmas is just around the bend. We know it. We feel it. We hear it. We smell it. We see it. Pinoys are perhaps the only people who celebrate Christmas the longest, and uniquely at that. To other cultures, Christmas is just a two-day or one-day affair, but for Filipinos here and abroad, it's the most wonderful time of the year indeed – an occasion fit to last for several months and worthy of coming home to regardless of the circumstance. The moment the clock strikes 12 midnight on the first of September, Pinoys are already greeting each other a merry Christmas. We celebrate Christmas throughout the duration.

  However, the yuletide season in the country really begins at the 16th up until the 24th day of the last month of the year where Misa de Gallo (Night Mass), a nine-day devotion which is usually done as early as 3 o’clock in the morning, starts.

  Most of the time people are encouraged to participate in this series of "simbang gabi” because of the belief that if one completes the nine mornings of epiphany; one wish shall be granted to them.

  Filipinos, just like the rest of the world, are fond of carolling during Christmas season too. Most of them are children who tend to ask for their "aginaldo” or Christmas present which is often cash and coins.

  Christmas time is fun to enjoy the company of my family. It all starts on the day of Christmas Eve, I wake up in the morning, and I prepare myself to clean up the house. This process takes a good two hours to clean the whole house. Then when the house is clean, that's when my family starts to come over. The time I share with my family is the time we talk about old stories that have happened to our lives throughout the year. My family loves to cook a whole lot of fatting foods like tamales. Tamales are like a big tradition during Christmas; it's a long process to make tamales, so it's the best time for my mother and aunts to catch up on gossip. While I am waiting for the tamales to be cooked, I am usually on the phone with my friend's trying to find out where all the Christmas parties are at.

  Around midnight is when we gather in the living room to open our gifts. Then after I clean up the mess from all the gifts. My friends start to come over to my house. Most of the time they usually come over because they just got too bored at home. I don't mind having my friend's over at my house when I am spending some time with my family. This is good because I don't have to leave my house to early to just be with my friends. After an hour or so that has passed by at home, my phone is ringing off the hook.