XMAS AND DECOR
in contrast to sassy lawyer's entry about foregoing all christmas decorations and the christmas tree in proud to be grinch, i decorated the temporary house Other Half and i live in with few christmas ornaments and lights. i ditched the christmas tree because my sister-in-law's tree is so huge that it's too cumbersome to assemble. why the effort? wala lang, gusto ko lang maningning ang pasko ko.
i used to be the family grinch and persuaded my mother not to put up the tree because "di naman likas na pilipino yang krismas tree na yan eh! sino ba ang nagdala nyan? kano! baket, me snow ba sa pinas? bakit tayo maglalagay ng santa klaws dito?"
my mother gave in and we didn't have a tree that year.
ay malungkot pala walang dekorasyon.
the following year my mother bought a tree.
ngayon ko lang narealize na putting up decorations is part of our family christmas tradition. sort of. and it makes me realize that ritual is important to me ever since i transplanted myself to manila. and it is more important now that i don't live with my mother now and my father's already gone.
it's just as silly and simple as climbing the walls and ladder to hook up all those lights around the garage beams and figuring out how to set up that damned tree year in and year out but to me it's kinda special because it has always been a family effort. my ate and i would be untangling the lights while my father would be snarling his way out and shout expletives at us on how not to do it. my mother would be bringing out the tree and the teeny weeny decorations while our youngest sister would be messing up everything by stepping on these kasi pupungas-pungas pa siya bagong gising. my brother, if he was around, would be looking for the hammer and uutsan magpukpok ng pagkakabitan ng parol.
and those memories are important to me now that we have our own lives to lead and nakakamiss din yung sama-sama kaming magpasko. those memories are important for us children when we look back on christmases past.
i remember there were several snapshots of us setting up our tabletop christmas tree. for me those photos are poignant reminders of how we got by the holidays when my parents tried their best to make us feel that we are not lacking in christmas "comforts" even though they could barely make ends meet. when we couldn't afford a tree that time, i remember my father improvised by constructing a base for a "tree" and attached strings from the top of the stick that was in the middle of that thing to the base to give the "tree" a form. then we would be tying up the decorations on the strings. it's kinda hard to picture but it sure worked for us that time.
and i remember mymother curing her own ham (with all those huge needles!) because christmas hams at that time were expensive and we couldn't afford it at that time since there were 4 children who needed new clothes and gifts plus the school would be asking for "donations" or fees for the christmas presentation or "extravaganza" we would be showing our parents.
now i digress.
what i'm pointing out is, putting up decorations for christmas is not about succumbing to the commercialization of christmas but rather it is keeping the family tradition alive, now that we have gone our separate ways. the year my father died, i almost cried while i was putting all those lights because he loved having all those lights around the house, especially the kitschy ones that spew that ear-busting "jingle bells" tune. but he's not there anymore to gaze at his house that is all aglow while the mass in the church next door can be heard.
it's not about keeping up with the joneses but rather decorating our own house according to our hearts' desires. those decorations keep our spirits happier, especially now that the house is quite empty since most of us are now working in manila.
christmas extravagance is not about just for the sake of extravagance itself but it is a way of giving thanks for the blessings that we had and for rewarding ourselves for the hardships that we endured. my father always liked our christmas food because, as he said, all he ate were ordinary food. plus he doesn't have to worry about cooking rice in the morning. my siblings and cousins loved our mean potato salad, the staple during the holiday season. my mother particularly liked the idea of just lounging around because she doesn't need to cook since there is plenty of food to last us two days.
we buy gifts for each other not becase we had to but it is nice to gather around the tree at midnight or christmas morning while opening up those nicely wrapped presents. even when we were financially strained, my parents made it a point to wrap something up for us. that made our christmas special. i still remember what i received from them. even just a simple card would make my parents happy. when we were gathering my father's stuff from his rocking chair nook shortly after he died, my sister and i found the christmas (and birthday) cards we gave him. he was keeping them safe in some leather book case he had among his reading materials on a table/shelf he made. that was an indication of how he treasured even those small gifts we gave him.
for me, that is the essence of going through all those trouble of buying, cooking and decorating. christmas is about building memories and feeling good because we had each other and that is not going to last, i mean we cannot be together forever. the holiday is for us kids and kids at heart.
and your can bet that i would be following the same tradition for my own children to keep alive.
i used to be the family grinch and persuaded my mother not to put up the tree because "di naman likas na pilipino yang krismas tree na yan eh! sino ba ang nagdala nyan? kano! baket, me snow ba sa pinas? bakit tayo maglalagay ng santa klaws dito?"
my mother gave in and we didn't have a tree that year.
ay malungkot pala walang dekorasyon.
the following year my mother bought a tree.
ngayon ko lang narealize na putting up decorations is part of our family christmas tradition. sort of. and it makes me realize that ritual is important to me ever since i transplanted myself to manila. and it is more important now that i don't live with my mother now and my father's already gone.
it's just as silly and simple as climbing the walls and ladder to hook up all those lights around the garage beams and figuring out how to set up that damned tree year in and year out but to me it's kinda special because it has always been a family effort. my ate and i would be untangling the lights while my father would be snarling his way out and shout expletives at us on how not to do it. my mother would be bringing out the tree and the teeny weeny decorations while our youngest sister would be messing up everything by stepping on these kasi pupungas-pungas pa siya bagong gising. my brother, if he was around, would be looking for the hammer and uutsan magpukpok ng pagkakabitan ng parol.
and those memories are important to me now that we have our own lives to lead and nakakamiss din yung sama-sama kaming magpasko. those memories are important for us children when we look back on christmases past.
i remember there were several snapshots of us setting up our tabletop christmas tree. for me those photos are poignant reminders of how we got by the holidays when my parents tried their best to make us feel that we are not lacking in christmas "comforts" even though they could barely make ends meet. when we couldn't afford a tree that time, i remember my father improvised by constructing a base for a "tree" and attached strings from the top of the stick that was in the middle of that thing to the base to give the "tree" a form. then we would be tying up the decorations on the strings. it's kinda hard to picture but it sure worked for us that time.
and i remember mymother curing her own ham (with all those huge needles!) because christmas hams at that time were expensive and we couldn't afford it at that time since there were 4 children who needed new clothes and gifts plus the school would be asking for "donations" or fees for the christmas presentation or "extravaganza" we would be showing our parents.
now i digress.
what i'm pointing out is, putting up decorations for christmas is not about succumbing to the commercialization of christmas but rather it is keeping the family tradition alive, now that we have gone our separate ways. the year my father died, i almost cried while i was putting all those lights because he loved having all those lights around the house, especially the kitschy ones that spew that ear-busting "jingle bells" tune. but he's not there anymore to gaze at his house that is all aglow while the mass in the church next door can be heard.
it's not about keeping up with the joneses but rather decorating our own house according to our hearts' desires. those decorations keep our spirits happier, especially now that the house is quite empty since most of us are now working in manila.
christmas extravagance is not about just for the sake of extravagance itself but it is a way of giving thanks for the blessings that we had and for rewarding ourselves for the hardships that we endured. my father always liked our christmas food because, as he said, all he ate were ordinary food. plus he doesn't have to worry about cooking rice in the morning. my siblings and cousins loved our mean potato salad, the staple during the holiday season. my mother particularly liked the idea of just lounging around because she doesn't need to cook since there is plenty of food to last us two days.
we buy gifts for each other not becase we had to but it is nice to gather around the tree at midnight or christmas morning while opening up those nicely wrapped presents. even when we were financially strained, my parents made it a point to wrap something up for us. that made our christmas special. i still remember what i received from them. even just a simple card would make my parents happy. when we were gathering my father's stuff from his rocking chair nook shortly after he died, my sister and i found the christmas (and birthday) cards we gave him. he was keeping them safe in some leather book case he had among his reading materials on a table/shelf he made. that was an indication of how he treasured even those small gifts we gave him.
for me, that is the essence of going through all those trouble of buying, cooking and decorating. christmas is about building memories and feeling good because we had each other and that is not going to last, i mean we cannot be together forever. the holiday is for us kids and kids at heart.
and your can bet that i would be following the same tradition for my own children to keep alive.
