It’s Christmas again?
OF course, it is. The lights, the shopping, the decors – they have been here since last month. And my dear Marco has been singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” for weeks now, practicing for his school’s coming Christmas program. Similarly, the workforce is gearing up for office parties galore, wracking brains for concepts, costumes, and effects. Only in the Philippines, I remember telling my American son-in-law last year, when he gushed with disbelief at his co-workers’ seriousness of purpose!
Why, indeed, are we so obsessed with celebrating Christmas the way we do? I’m excitedly dressing up the house, putting new touches here and there, but already, I’m dreading the gargantuan task of keeping everything away in a few weeks ahead. I console myself with the thought that I could keep the look until Chinese New Year, so it should be worth all the effort. Gifts are starting to come in from friends and family and I panic at the thought that I have yet to attend to our traditional gift packs. My schedule of professional and social commitments overwhelm, and the home is begging for a major clean up. I don’t know anymore where to start!
And yet, I go on, because there’s much joy in looking forward to Christmas, in connecting and reconnecting with kith and kin through innumerable parties, reunions, visits, telecons and e-messages. There’s joy in sharing joy and counting all the little blessings that came our way, thankful that we have hurdled another year quite well and hoping that the next will be better.
HOPE, that’s it, and we are generally full of it. Never mind that we suffer horrendous traffic day in and out; frustrations at unmet expectations – and even dismay – from our leaders, public servants and institutions, fellow citizens, school, church, the world, ourselves; anger at how helpless we are against abuses, violence, and crime. But time does not stop and we have to flow with it. Neither do places, things and events that refresh the spirit run out. Most of all, we have our closest and dearest who keep us going, stoking feel-good fires inside us, and giving our best in this rather complex but wondrous world.
No wonder that the first Advent candle symbolizes Hope. In spite of the dark and difficult times during the year, we tread on. And with Faith, which the second candle symbolizes, we know almost instinctively that all will be well. Hope and Faith together, in themselves, can give us Joy – the third candle – and eventually Peace, the fourth candle. All in God’s time and grace, but we know we will get there sometime, somehow.
And so to the 47% of us who feel even poorer now than before, despair not. The Advent Wreath is the story and natural progression of our life. It’s Christmas again and there is no better time to reflect on this truth. We can actually celebrate Christmas with or without the trimmings because, as the popular song goes, Christmas is truly in our hearts, in the people we love most. Most importantly, Christmas is the One who is the source of all.