This Is My Christmas
Category: Seasons
We gathered together at 11:30 pm last night, what remains of the family, at my mother-in-law's place. Dinner looked promising, and in fact turned out fantastic. Perfectly roasted turkey, medium-rare beef, extra-thick callos (oxtail and tripe stew), and a sinfully decadent caviar pie (out of which I admittedly had more than my fair share) were what we had. And all those desserts. The thing is, everybody forgot to bring decent red wine, which left those of us who persisted to sip on the unbearableness of whatever wine it was, that happened to be lying around. Ugh.
We had the usual exchange of gifts, and group pictures by family after, which signaled that the night was nearing the end of its sequence, which is how the eves of Christmases have been celebrated at the in-laws, all these years that I've been with that family. Of course I know that my mother-in-law is not this Christmas-loving person (it makes her lonely, she said), but her grandchildren will never agree with me on that. Always they come out of such gatherings happy and heavily gifted. Grandma was, is, Santa Claus incarnate, but minus the Christmas cheer, to my mind. It's a good thing that my husband imbibed the cheery wonder and expectation of a joyful middle-class Christmas from my family traditions.
Why are there too many sad Christmas songs? asked my sister when once we talked about how happy Christmas really is, but not, and in fact, the opposite, for a lot of other people. The highest incidence of drug use is during the holidays, my husband reminded, and this, not because of the many parties from which these 'favors' are offered but more because of intense loneliness that creeps up into many, many hurting people during these times that they'd rather forget with a buzz. And what about the homeless? And those stricken with AIDS or cancer? These thoughts admittedly dampened my Christmas cheer considerably. That, and I couldn't shake out of my head the urgent blaring of sirens from firetrucks we came accross with, rushing with urgency to their unfortunate destination, as we made our way to my mother-in-law last night.
To fantasize about a perfect Christmas is disappointing, especially if we look towards, and fall short of our own Christmas card expectations. When we mind about ideal gifts, the perfect party, the better wine, the unsteadiness of relationships, moreso an unfortunate Christmas eve fire, and so on, we find how effortlessly we spoil Christmas, specially if we make it dependent upon these things. But to remember the reason for the season -- that God so loved us that He sent His only Son Jesus to die for our sins, is what Christmas is truly all about. Which gives us peace, joy, and abundant love, that allows for us to smile after the tears, hope against hope, and move on through our fears. And that I know, for I lived it. And so, to enjoy the perfectly roasted turkey, even the decadence of caviar pie, did not become a guilty pleasure out of sync with the times last night. Instead, it was a hearty way to celebrate, with gratefulness in heart, for knowing (and receiving the blessings of) the real meaning of Christmas. Crappy red wine, notwithstanding.
A Blessed Christmas To All!
We gathered together at 11:30 pm last night, what remains of the family, at my mother-in-law's place. Dinner looked promising, and in fact turned out fantastic. Perfectly roasted turkey, medium-rare beef, extra-thick callos (oxtail and tripe stew), and a sinfully decadent caviar pie (out of which I admittedly had more than my fair share) were what we had. And all those desserts. The thing is, everybody forgot to bring decent red wine, which left those of us who persisted to sip on the unbearableness of whatever wine it was, that happened to be lying around. Ugh.
We had the usual exchange of gifts, and group pictures by family after, which signaled that the night was nearing the end of its sequence, which is how the eves of Christmases have been celebrated at the in-laws, all these years that I've been with that family. Of course I know that my mother-in-law is not this Christmas-loving person (it makes her lonely, she said), but her grandchildren will never agree with me on that. Always they come out of such gatherings happy and heavily gifted. Grandma was, is, Santa Claus incarnate, but minus the Christmas cheer, to my mind. It's a good thing that my husband imbibed the cheery wonder and expectation of a joyful middle-class Christmas from my family traditions.
Why are there too many sad Christmas songs? asked my sister when once we talked about how happy Christmas really is, but not, and in fact, the opposite, for a lot of other people. The highest incidence of drug use is during the holidays, my husband reminded, and this, not because of the many parties from which these 'favors' are offered but more because of intense loneliness that creeps up into many, many hurting people during these times that they'd rather forget with a buzz. And what about the homeless? And those stricken with AIDS or cancer? These thoughts admittedly dampened my Christmas cheer considerably. That, and I couldn't shake out of my head the urgent blaring of sirens from firetrucks we came accross with, rushing with urgency to their unfortunate destination, as we made our way to my mother-in-law last night.
To fantasize about a perfect Christmas is disappointing, especially if we look towards, and fall short of our own Christmas card expectations. When we mind about ideal gifts, the perfect party, the better wine, the unsteadiness of relationships, moreso an unfortunate Christmas eve fire, and so on, we find how effortlessly we spoil Christmas, specially if we make it dependent upon these things. But to remember the reason for the season -- that God so loved us that He sent His only Son Jesus to die for our sins, is what Christmas is truly all about. Which gives us peace, joy, and abundant love, that allows for us to smile after the tears, hope against hope, and move on through our fears. And that I know, for I lived it. And so, to enjoy the perfectly roasted turkey, even the decadence of caviar pie, did not become a guilty pleasure out of sync with the times last night. Instead, it was a hearty way to celebrate, with gratefulness in heart, for knowing (and receiving the blessings of) the real meaning of Christmas. Crappy red wine, notwithstanding.
A Blessed Christmas To All!
Poppycock | 12/25/2006 |
10 Comments:
merry christmas sister!
sister, merry christmas! :)
happy holidays sis! i spent the holidays alone in my unit. had christmas breakfast with 2 friends and christmas lunch with a fil-australian family. hopefully this is my last christmas in australia. i miss home and i am determined to be in manila in time for june 2007 school opening. will be teaching again. take care.
speaking or red wine, we have bottomless quality red wine during our wednesday house dinners at the ANU university house (a hotel but it has a residence hall for phd students). canberra is a huge wine producing region and i feel sad that we do not have such an avalanche of wine cellars back in manila. our restaurants do not have substantial wine collections because many of our compatriots are beer drinkers. hay.
This post is so beautiful,i am touched by what your husband said..
i wonder if we can post this in the Rebel's blog,christmas ang theme and this is so perfect.
Let me know,can you email me or holler at my crib?
Thanks and Happy Holidays!
wendell!
do you know how hard it is to comment on beta blogger sometimes? but no kidding, i was thinking of you on christmas. i even found karen galarpe's blog through yours :) happy to you and just to encourage you, 2007 is a few days away, and you'll be home very soon.
take care!
hi sachi,
thanks, and merry christmas!
sure, we can post this. paano nga ba? email me instructions and when.
take care.
Hey there girl, do you know that you're a gifted writer? Write more. :-) Thanks for hosting the party last night. Had so much fun!
karen galarpe and i were both staff members of the university newspaper when we were in college. she was one of the editors in fact. she is like a sister to me as well. i hardly get to see her but we are all close along with writer vim nadera and a few others from that group. small world talaga.
hello ate k :)
i love it when people like you and wendell encourage me, thanks so much.
wendell, we had a magazine ministry party last night at home, we go to the same church pa :)
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