It seems like January was just yesterday. Now, we are looking ahead into November the second to the last month of the year. This means that we just passed by the Halloween season. Now we're done with horror stories, scaring ourselves out and visiting the graves of our loved ones. We now shift our focus into one of the most celebrated holidays across the globe - Christmas.
As I walked into one of the malls in Cebu City after a rigorous trip in Bohol, I couldn't help but sing to the tunes of the different Christmas carols that were once very familiar about. These were the songs that I grew up singing to in front of our neighbors' houses so we can get a few coins, gather them and put up a small Christmas party for the kids on our block.
Of course, Christmas decorations also filled the many stores. Others opted to go for stars - the symbol that guided the three kings to the stable of the Holy Child that was born in a manger. There were also those who displayed reindeers and old Saint Nick we often call Santa. These symbols are modern images associated with Christmas time in time for the winter season as the year closes.
Despite the festivities, I still think that we have somehow lost the true essence of Christmas although the season seemed to be in an evolving state. Before we only had a makeshift tableau, now there is a Christmas village. Gifts used to be bought at the malls during the Christmas sale, although some still do abide by it but online shopping is less hassle. But the time is not only for giving gifts or decorating, but on the message of the Child that was born on the stable that night.
New concepts of Christmas that seem to come out from nowhere but forgetting the message of it all is what I would like to call a forward fall. Yes, there is progress and development on the ideas that we put out but we have lost the significance of it all. It is like walking blindly on a catwalk, not knowing where to go but looking good as it may seem. More than the different things we receive are also what we can give to others.
When the Holy Child grew up to be a man, he was full of compassion and love for his fellowmen to the point of sacrificing for them. He was very down to earth, walked with the people, taught them well and was a person who took all his decision into consideration of his own Father. We ought to replicate that act, commemorate how he came into the earth for us and emulate his actions by the simplest ways possible.
Christmas for me is the time we remember of the moment given to us of a Baby born out of a miracle, inside a shed, and became the highest man to praise there is. There is a point to every gift we give, to every song we sing, and meal we share on the eve of the date when He was said to be born. It will be more significant if we share with others what they don't have.
The next few weeks will be poured into arranging events, making plans for parties and what-not. Food will be overflowing left and right, and parlors will make a lot of money from the people who want to look and feel good on the rarest nights of the year.
Yes, it has been a tradition to put up with the businesses intended for Christmas. But more than anything, we ought to place our perspectives in place. There is still more than a month to go, a lot of time to realign priorities. November will pass by like a sweep of a wind, before we know it, Christmas is here.
Let's move forward and not fall.