going ga-ga over christmas... not for me

It's interesting how everyone is rushing about these days. Well, it's Christmas. Who could fault them for rushing? They, afterall, have to get everything in their shopping list-- A toy for him, a skirt for her, etc. Well, I'm not one of them. I'm not buying stuff for friends and family this year. You see, this is the first christmas when I'm practically penniless. I'm no longer a student, meaning no "baon." Unfortunately, neither am I a part of the Filipino workforce (not yet at least), which means I don't get salaries (let alone bonuses). But, you know what? It's ok... I feel ok.

For the past years of my life, Christmas to me was but one concept... gifts. It didn't matter whether i was at the giving or the receiving end. Although I usually mouthed words like "Christmas is not about gifts, its about blah-blah-blah", I never really meant them. I only saw gifts (more likely monetary at my age). Oh I ranted about the commercialization of christmas, of people opportunizing on the occasion, of many other things which primarily signified the intense materialism that was the yuletide season... all these without accepting to myself that I was actually one of them... that i was also a patron... that i was a party to a neo-Gramscian hegemony. However, as I type these words, I see that there is a truth to the "blah,blah" part of the meaning of Christmas.

Christmas is about celebration. It doesn't really matter what your celebrating (friendship, love, birthday...) so long as you're happy with whom you're celebrataing it. You might get the best gifts but if you've no one to share them with, then what's the point? Now that I don't have the funds to actually buy myself a little amount of happiness, I appreciate the people around me more. I know now that I'd rather spend a fun day just chatting with friends over a couple of doughnuts than a gazzilion pesos (ok, maybe not... but it's true for a thousand or few hundred bucks). I'd rather play with my baby cousins than get squished by thousand of people in a mall. I'd rather learn how to bake with my folks in preparation for the holiday feast than ponder over the cost of a gift item (which is usually a hundred times pricier than its production cost).

Now, I'm no hypocrite. I want the best of both worlds. What better way to enjoy the doughnuts with friends than after a long shopping day, right? What i'm simply saying is that if i were to choose one over the other, I choose the doughnut over the dough... that's all.