Wishing upon a Christmas Star

It’s the day before Christmas. The shopping and gift-wrapping frenzy is over, hopefully, and we should now start to relax a bit and prepare for tonight’s midnight Mass and the noche buena.

As usual, being forever a last-minute worker (the adrenaline rush is at its peak when you’re racing with the clock, isn’t it?), I’m giving my "gift list" to Santa Claus (does anybody still believe in him?) at the 25th hour. Better (very) late than never, you know.

If, busy as he is (sluggish now due to excess poundage), Santa can’t deliver, I can always wish upon a Christmas Star for earth-bound stars who are too busy, or too cynical, to do so.

Okay, have the stars been bad or good during the past 12 months?

Those on the "list" (and their corresponding "gifts") are:

* Dolphy and Zsa Zsa Padilla – A one-way ticket to the altar

* Richard Gomez and Lucy Torres – A son so their daughter Juliana will have a playmate

* Randy Santiago and Marilou Coronel – Another chance at "living happily ever after"

* Vanessa del Bianco – The privacy – and peace of mind – she has been looking for in her native Toronto where she’s now on vacation (until when?)

* John Estrada – A round-trip ticket to Toronto so he can keep Vanessa company during the holidays

* Willie Revillame – A one-way ticket back to MTB

* Janice de Belen – A man all her own (no kasosyo, that is) but only after her annulment case against John Estrada is resolved by the court

* Aga Muhlach and Charlene Gonzales – Another set of twins to give their twins playmates

* Rio Diaz – A clean bill of health

* Kris Aquino – True, true happiness with her loved one (whoever he may be), relished far from the madding, nosey crowd

* Boy Abunda – A grand vacation in the Bahamas (not in Bali, please!) because he has been working so hard

* Claudine Barretto – An "MU" (as in Mutual Understanding) from Raymart Santiago

* Gretchen Barretto – A comeback movie (with her beloved Tonyboy Cojuangco’s nod, of course)

* Judy Ann Santos – A boyfriend

* Jolina Magdangal – A boyfriend

* Angelika dela Cruz – A boyfriend

* Rufa Mae Quinto – A boyfriend (na walang sabit!)

* Ruffa Gutierrez and Yilmaz Bektas – A wedding aboard a yacht

* Tintin Bersola and Julius Babao – A wedding in the Holy Land (which they once visited together)

* Gladys Reyes and Christopher Roxas – A wedding somewhere between the Philippines (where Gladys is) and the US (where Christopher is)

* Ogie Diaz – More "blind items" to broadcast on his and "Ms. M’s" new program on DZMM (Miss M, Miss O, Mismo!)

* Lolit Solis – Another grandchild (because the only one she has so far is in the US with her daughter Sneezy and her American husband)

* Mother Lily – More movies like Mano Po

* Bong Revilla (Videogram Regulatory Board Chairman) – More pirated records and tapes to burn

* Madame Auring – A crystal ball and a set of tarot cards that tell the whole truth and nothing but

* Lipa City Mayor Vilma Santos – A bullet-proof vest

* Nora Aunor – A talking doll that will remind her every minute and every hour of every day to keep up with what she’s now doing (concentrate on her career, that is)

* Bobby Yan – An identity all his own (and not one copied from his late brother Rico Yan)

* Assunta de Rossi and Jules Ledesma – A child taller than 5’2" but shorter than 5’9"

* Cesar Montano and Sunshine Cruz – Another child to keep their daughter Angelina company ... and another Hollywood movie for Cesar (after The Great Raid)

* Leandro and Carlo Muñoz – A movie that will pit them with each other, maybe as feuding brothers?

* Piolo Pascual – A girlfriend

* Carlos Agassi – A girlfriend

* Marvin Agustin – A girlfriend

* Dingdong Avanzado and Jessa Zaragoza – Safe delivery of their first child sometime in August, 2003

* Jinggoy Estrada – Freedom or house arrest

* Joseph "Erap" Estrada – Freedom or house arrest

* FPJ – A one-way ticket to Malacañang, offered to him on a silver platter.