There will always be Christmas

The day before Christmas, I did a live report in La Loma for the lechon fervor. On Christmas Day, I hoped it to be slow news day, but during the morning show Umagang Kay Ganda, there were already reports of two fires that broke out: One in San Juan which affected over a thousand families and another fire in a Quezon City apartment which killed no less than seven people.

Sagip Kapamilya was ready to deploy help to the residents because they didn’t have a Christmas break anyway. The Sagip Kapamilya team had a skeletal force working half-day supposedly to receive donations for Pablo victims. 

Earl, one of the team leaders of Sagip Kapamilya, was not supposed to be on-duty. And like him, I was looking forward to spending Christmas Day with my husband. But when we heard about the fire, we went with a light heart to the evacuation center, no qualms that we had to be away from family on Christmas. After all, our work is never work and thank God for our understanding families. 

That morning, the Sagip Kapamilya team immediately proceeded to two evacuation centers in San Juan — one which was near the City Hall, and the other behind the arena. A number of residents managed to save their belongings from the fire. But there was a mother who couldn’t stop crying because she didn’t save any of her belongings. Maryann has been a laundrywoman for 16 years, and everything that she has invested in went up in ashes. “Even the electric fan is gone.” 

I just let her be, but in my heart I was happy that none of her children was harmed in the fire. I was thinking of the family in Quezon who perished. 

Maryann only had a piece of blanket, which another fire victim generously gave them. 

I expected most of the evacuees to share Maryann’s sentiment, but not everybody felt beaten. In fact, a number of the families there smiled and waved at me, as if they didn’t lose their homes just hours before. 

Lanie waved at me to see two-year-old Xander, a chubby kid with curly hair and an adorable smile. He was busy playing with a green rubber toy that looked like a crossbreed of a dog and a dragon.

“We didn’t save anything,” Lanie told  me. “But I saved his Christmas present,” pointing to the green toy.

“Why the toy?” I asked. 

“Well, I wanted him to still feel the spirit of Christmas despite the fire.”

Around the evacuation center, people were sharing food from the previous night’s noche buena — they had pancit. One of the residents, Henry, managed to save their mango cake from their noche buena. It was their family’s first Christmas with his wife and eight-month-old daughter, Marie. It was obvious that his young wife was getting her strength from the husband.

I admire Henry, who works as a family driver. He remained optimistic despite seeing his little baby girl roll to her tummy in a blanket in the evacuation center. He kept his cool, saying: “There will always be challenges in life, but it will always be Christmas.”

Watching their family of three, I imagined how it was for Joseph and Mary when Jesus was born in a manger. They, too, were evacuees in their time who fled to Bethlehem. Henry was right — there will always be Christmas amidst their tragedy.  

I may have missed a lot of Christmas traditions this Christmastime (no time to buy gifts, no simbang gabi, no noche buena), but I still experienced Christmas through the people I’ve met — the victims of Pablo and the victims of the recent fire. In His birth, Jesus shares in our nothingness and with life, He brings us hope.

Have a blessed 2013 everyone! 

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