By Jan Vicente B. Pekas
There are many things to look forward to this month alone. For students, the much-needed vacation. For employees their 13th month pay. The drinks to quench our thirst for escaping from reality for a while. The food that throws a wrench to our diet plans. And especially the presents we give to one another. Instead of deadlines and homework, we can expect great things instead in the coming weeks. For people who dearly love Christmas, now would be one of the times to be glad for living in the Philippines.
The Christmas this time around will be very different. The people who usually accompanied us to greet this merry season will have slightly changed. The old faces won’t be there, and everyone grew up and matured. Some sentimental parents may even miss the old noises their young children made during this time. The setting may be the same, but a year is enough time for changes to do their work, both on the people and surroundings. Like always though, the sounds of fireworks, the bonfires and the red decorations all around will be there to comfort us amidst these changes.
Us children may have grown up once again, but this is a season to be a kid again, enjoying our time with families to the fullest and without care. Like we were just a few years ago, it would be nice to just focus our sights on what is in front, not the annoyance of deadlines all around, the failed exams behind us, or the complexities of a young adult’s life.
Some time ago, I remember the only thing to focus on this time of the year was the Christmas performance before bakasyon. Not some college task so heavy we would sacrifice several weeks’ worth of sleep and much of our sanity. It suddenly became normal to pay a price worth our body and mental health just to reach this month.
Even for just a few weeks, the gift that everyone would like is for being joyful to be the norm once again. For the sights of family to be the view 24/7. And for the only thing filling our minds would be the exciting wait for the big celebrations.
For a few weeks, we all want to be a kid once again. This is no cowardly reluctance of ours to turn away from our responsibilities but the dire need of respite from all the expectations and the inevitability of adult life. The pleas of ours as we continued to mature started to deviate away from material things but instead shifted to a more precious gift, a time to be spent with the whole family.
This gift is more precious than all the toys we received as children. And it will be about as useful as gifts of clothes that will stick with us for decades. No person will take this gift for granted, especially the older students.
We’re a bit too old for toys now. We want now what our parents wanted since we were younger. We want to spend time with our families. **
