Yes, candles, the rage of this and other seasons.
There was a time not so long ago when pens (ballpens, fountain pens and all the pens you could think of) were the favorite gift items during Christmas. You opened a box and, voila, a pen in all its shining glory greeted your eyes. So you tucked it away, not able to use it — along with a dozen others — until the next Christmas season when more pens came your way.
And then came fruitcakes of all shapes and sizes and flavors, wrapped in all kinds of boxes,with notes reminding you that fruitcakes were ideal Christmas gift items because they lasted for months and months, tasting even better if you did so one year later (did fruitcakes really "mellowed" like wine?) when another Christmas season approached — and came more boxes of, yes, fruitcakes.
Soon, it was hello, mugs! Mugs of various forms, mugs with names of the companies printed on them, mugs carrying the faces of the givers, mugs in all hues and colors, mugs with cover and without, mugs with handles and without, mugs in plastic and/or ceramics — mugs, mugs, mugs!
Before long, diaries took centerstage, inching out ballpens and fruitcakes and mugs as favorite giveaways. They, too, came in a hundred and one types — with calendars and without, with the map of the globe and without, with the multiplication table and without; but all of them with dates, of course, many with the first two or three months of the following year included as a tailend.
And now, candles. Think of any shape and any size and you’ve got ‘em — candles that glow and glow for days on end because they’re huge and tall, candles that fill up your room with fragrance, candles that are said to be "curative" because of their aromatic qualities.
Candles are meaningful and they are said to relay messages to The One Above not just with their far-reaching glow but with the thin smoke that they send skyward. Remember the lines from a famous poem: How far that little candle throws its beam, so shines a good deed in this naughty world.
Yes, candles. That’s what I’m giving my favorite stars this Christmas. Candles. Here they are:
• For Mark Anthony Fernandez – A candle that looks like him and that burns big and bright to light and guide his way so that he’ll never be lost again.
• For Pops Fernandez — A candle that will lead her to Mr. Right (who may not exactly look like Martin Nievera).
• For Judy Ann Santos — A candle that will open her eyes to the real intentions of guys (romantically) linked to her. Are they just "using" her or what, for their own purposes?
• For Lipa City Mayor Vilma Santos — A candle that will unmask the people planning to do her harm.
• For Nora Aunor — Candles without any "political color," without any "political smell," to make her see which side of the political fence she’s really in.
• For Alma Moreno, Dolphy and relatives of Vandolph — Candles that will burn forever and ever as an expression of eternal gratitude for the "miracle" that sprang Vandolph out of a month-long coma.
• For Jolina Magdangal — A candle that looks like her Prince Charming so she’ll know who he really is.
• For John Estrada and Vanessa del Bianco – A huge smiling candle that will show the whole world what their relationship really is – only friends or more than that?
• For Rica Peralejo and Bernard Palanca – A stick-shaped candle, like Moses’ cane, that will point them onward in the present direction they’re taking... ending up at the altar?
• For Aga Muhlach and Charlene Gonzalez – Two candles, one colored blue and the other colored pink, as double-thanksgiving for their twins Antonio Andres and Atasha Aaron. And may the couple have more twins (since Charlene’s doctor said that she is – or haven’t you heard? – capable of even having triplets!).
• For Richard Gomez and Lucy Torres – Multi-colored candles, dozens and dozens of them burning all together, to celebrate their being such an ideal couple able to preserve their wholesome family image in an intrigue-laden world like showbiz.
• For Kris Aquino – Three candles – one bearing the letter "I," the second bearing the letter "Love" and the third bearing the letter "You" – to be sent by special delivery to the right guy she seems to be having a hard time looking for.