Have you noticed that lately, 5am is still a little dark? Longer nights, shorter days! Yes, for us who prefer longer time to sleep, this is a welcome change, and with it comes those mornings that I call misty. Who’s counting, but it’s 75 days to go before Christmas. I am looking forward to another celebration of Jesus’ birth. And I’ve said time and again that no matter how commercialized the celebration has become, I still get excited , awaiting the event like a child. Come to think of it, I guess, the Philippines is the only nation which celebrates Christmas as early as September and as late as January each year. It never fails, every first of September, you’ll hear a Christmas carol being played on the radio or a group of singers belting out some Christmas songs of old. Then you have that big smile on your face because you start counting the days. Whoa, I love Christmas, who doesn’t?
We were at the supermarket this morning doing our monthly grocery shopping, and the pipe-in music was a Christmas song. I was busy reading labels, then one shopper casually started a conversation with me. She has this long list of to-buy-items. “Pasko na ulit, at ang mahal na ng fruit cocktail”. A casual exchange between two moms who are quite conscious of their monthly grocery budgets. True, the price of canned goods and other grocery items are rising (price still subject to change two weeks before Christmas). If you are clever enough, and if you have extra budget for groceries, you would think of stacking up on some items needed for the Christmas holidays. Some of us prefer to do last-minute shopping though, be it for gifts for our family and friends, be it for groceries that we forgot to buy earlier and some other items we need for the season. The adrenalin rush, the frantic way we go from mall to mall to find those perfect gifts on our lists, sometimes, we end up not buying at all. I’d like to think that I am sort of organized when it comes to gift-giving. I have a small notebook where I list down all the gifts I have given the previous years, be it birthdays or Christmas presents, so there would be no duplication when I buy gifts again. And I also have a check-list of all the people I want to remember. Gift-buying for me is done all year round because when I find something that would fit the personality of a friend or a family member and I have enough money to buy it, I buy it no matter what month, no matter what day, no matter what occasion. A few years ago, I was usually done with wrapping Christmas gifts as early as October but since I got sick, I seldom go out. My comfort zone is limited to staying at home – reading, updating my blogs, doing a bit of gardening, doing macro photography or experimenting on some new recipes in the kitchen. I am not complaining because I feel happy doing these things. Simple life, you say? Yes, happiness is how we make it.
And always, I equate long nights and misty mornings with the coming of the Christmas season – something to look forward to, something to anticipate, something to share with friends and family. How do you celebrate Christmas?
Dreams And Escapes 