Christmas feels

I woke up one morning with a chill down my spine. It's that familiar gush of wind that I used to feel every December. I knew it, it's starting to feel like Christmas. It was the same chill every time I had to leave home early because of early call times for Christmas performances. When I was a bit younger, I was very active in the music industry both in school and off-campus. Christmas was the time for us, musicians, to spread the feel of Christmas through songs and tunes. I could remember being present at almost every mall just to play Christmas carols on strings. The nightly activity at the City circle was yearly for our group, and Cebu loved us very well for a time.

But now, the feel is different. There are no more carolers that sing quality Christmas songs. There are not much houses anymore that decorate their rooms extravagantly as early as November. Gifts are now becoming a cliché and the essence of the season has started to fade away. There are talks of a tight budget and giving only to those who deserve it say, children and the mandatory secret santa or manito-manita.

Why do we celebrate Christmas, anyway? As it has been told, it is to remember the birth of Jesus Christ about two thousand years ago. His birth led to the amazing life that he lived on Earth which we are to emulate as Christians. Jesus and his arrival was a picture of unconditional love, sacrifice and giving which we are also ought to remember come December.

Early on the season there was drift between sects because of a red cup produced by a famous coffee shop. The other party was arguing that they have become anti-Christ by not putting any Christmas symbols on the cup such as a snowman, wreath, Santa Claus and the likes. The other party also argued that such symbols do not speak of Christmas in any manner for the true essence of it is in the birth of the blessed baby boy. The cup is just a merely a cup, intended for your coffee to be inside in.

The world has gone a little bit topsy-turvy with the many demands it want. It seems like everybody wants to have their own way at the own time. There is no more normal in a world where all voices have the right to speak up. If we could only go back to the start and the beginning of it all, then the simplest gestures of Christmas would have been okay.

The year is already coming to an end but everything seems to be in a slow pace for those who used to be in the fever of the Christmas feel. I would not know what could be the underlying factors for such situation but I pray that your Christmas would not just be a time to feast but to remember why we say "Merry Christmas" to one another.