Of family, friends, & festivity
WE are officially well into December – the most wonderful, yet busiest time of year. Our calendars are filling up (if they’re not already full) with holiday gatherings, Christmas parties, reunions, get-togethers and the like. Before you know it, Christmas would’ve passed us by, and it will be 2018. Suffice to say, it is easy to get lost in the bright lights, the Christmas trimmings, and the “snowfall” of it all. To say the least, we are all overwhelmed trying to keep up with the shuffle of it all.
Through the years, Christmas has become so commercialized – most especially in our beloved country where Santa Claus makes his first appearance in September. So much so, that we tend to lose sight of the true spirit, and meaning of the season. Last week, my family hosted our annual staff Christmas party – a night everyone looks forward to, most especially our extended family, who selflessly, and willingly sacrifice their time with their own respective families to dedicate their every day to us. While this year we chose to focus more on celebrating the simple joys, the feedback I received from friends (on social media) was quite overwhelming, to say the least. While I am accountable, and take full responsibility for choosing to post snippets of the celebration, to be honest, I did not expect a flurry of varying opinions to come my way that in hindsight baffle me. While most were able to relate and identify with our choice to celebrate our beloved help in the way we choose, I was quite surprised to be honest, at the way others commented, and were shocked at how seemingly “sosyal” the party seemed.
I guess I was taken aback to say the least simply because I personally feel that after all the hours, all the days, the months, and the years these individuals have devoted to our family (at the expense even of their personal lives), they deserve nothing less. Why should there be a discrepancy between how we choose to celebrate with our own friends, versus them? I have seen corporate Christmas parties at a much grander scale, yet somehow, those do not garner much questioning at all. I guess it all boils down to people’s differing perspectives on who they consider to be family, and extended family at that. To me, it is they who have seen me at my best, and at my worst; first thing in the morning, and scrambling up the stairs at the end of a night too fun. It is they who had been around long before I was even born, who fed me, bathed me, clothed me, and practically raised me alongside my own parents who really do matter. I was raised in a household where charity always begins at home. And as someone who has chosen to thread the philanthropic realm at quite a young age, it only makes sense to always go back to where my every day begins and ends. Because truly, home is where the heart is. At the end of the day, everyone deserves a joyful Christmas, and a celebration worth remembering. In the Yuletide season (and as should be, always), we celebrate to give thanks – to the unsung heroes who in the midst of our everyday grind, actually make our lives run so much more smoothly, but who we may often take for granted.
At the end of the day, when the lights have been turned off, when the wrappers, and ribbons have been swept away, when the sprinkles and all that glitter fade with the dust, we are left reflecting over the holiday season that’s been. And when that moment comes, I think it is fair to say that the season really should be about giving thanks for every single day in the year that’s been. Each celebration that we choose to attend, and be a part of should be one that pays it forward in the name of gratitude. So while the fanfare and the fancy is sometimes blinding, choose to celebrate the simple truths – because in them, lies the greatest of joys.