The New Christmas

Note: I wrote this article sometime in November for the Early Christmas Shopping proposal that our Advertisers had accepted. I realized that maybe it's too much to write about indulging people to buy things in preparation for Christmas when there are people still coping with the suffering brought by Yolanda(International name Haiyan), people who are still trying to put what was left of their lives, back together so they could start anew. So I banked this article with hopes of moving the able Filipinos to giving what they have in excess (materials and money). Maybe Christmas won't be as merrier for the victims of typhoon Yolanda, but I believed and I'm still believing that these little things that we do, can put a smile to the victims, even if it's just fleeting.

“Looking at the things that happened recently with our fellow Filipinos in Visayas, maybe it will be a different kind of Christmas this year.”

This is what Althea Cahayag surmised about the people’s anticipation on Christmas – or will we ever muster enough hope to celebrate it – after what had happened in our country?

Althea is a writer working for a prominent foundation, committed to public service. And public service it is when our country was devastated with the monster typhoon that is Yolanda, claiming thousands of lives, sucking with her, tons of hope. Currently, the foundation continues with its operation in an effort to send relief for the victims.

In the middle of the relief operation, Althea stood dumbfounded – everyday – with the deluge of contributions, coming from all over the country. People from different places come together, with the hopes of contributing to the reconstruction of the hard-hit areas, not in terms of infrastructure, but in terms of spirit.

She follows through, that there’s still a good reason for celebrating Christmas, in the middle of the cataclysm that we are trying to cope with. Everyday in the operation, the foundation receives tons of relief goods, clothes, medicines to the point where there is no space left inside the building and the flooding relief goods are temporarily stacked beside the road – for delivery – causing occasional traffic.

A Child’s Christmas gift

When we were young, we had our own toys. Our imagination could go as far as talking to it, as if it would talk back, as if they would understand. But we kept on talking and playing with them, no matter how silent and steady they were, because we considered them as our friends.

And now, Althea is struck when a child approaches her, accompanied by what she guessed as his mother and brother. “Inipon niya yang mga yan, siya naka isip. Tapos sabi niya, love niya si Jollibee,” (He collected all of those, and was the one who brought the idea. Then he said, he loves jollibee) points at the bag and continues, “Pero nilagay niya dyan kasi gusto niya raw maging masaya yung pasko ng mga bata doon,” (But he put it anyway, because he said, he wants a merry Christmas for the kids there) Althea recounts, suppressing the tears brimming in her eyes.

This is the kind of moment when the heavens will open and make you realize that there are certain things in this world that we have to give up so others would be happy. Giving up something may hurt us for a while, but the real joy comes when someone receives that one thing you think would stay by your side forever. This child may be sad for a little while, but then the children who are grief-stricken – bereaved even – will find comfort in the little toys he had shared.

Christmas lies not in the feast that awaits us on noche buena, it’s not even in the gift-giving we do. It is in the true spirit of sharing where Christmas can be felt. Because when we share, we give a part of us that cannot be taken back and so happiness multiplies.

Althea high-fived with the boy, who was silent all throughout. When they passed by again, the mother confided that the little boy asked where his toys were; making sure that it will be sent to his new friends, whom perhaps he will never meet.