Christmas Horrors

Maybe all the materialism is taking a toll on me…I have become so observant of everything.  As Christmas nears, I cringe at the sight of people buying gifts for others they don’t care about.  For the sake of appearances, they buy their bosses, officemates gifts.  They are giving gifts to people they bash all year round. 

There’s also the yearly exchange gift where the main concern is the minimum budget for each gift.  There is a price range, the minimum to maximum amount.  Since when did gift giving started to become a barter of goods?  Talk about generosity!  Whatever happened to the “it’s the thought that counts” routine? hehehe…The kris kringle beats the Christmas spirit out of me.  It’s forcing people to give gifts to people they care less.  It’s hypocritical.    

There’s the yearly office Christmas party where everyone if forced to participate.  Employees have to do the song and dance number, while the employers watch them perform.  It would have been better if the presentation offers something substantial.  The professionals are transformed to mere performers.  The terrible part of these presentations is the group with the most stupid number wins.  The formula remains the same…dress up the guys as gays and make fun of some employees.  Your presentation is a sure success.  The employees only attend those parties because of the bonuses and the raffle prizes.  Really, I did a survey way back.  That tops the reason for attending.  You’re lucky if the party is only a dinner party.  Imagine the horrors of having an out of town overnight Christmas party.  In my years of employee existence, I was lucky I only attended two of those dreadful out of town overnight parties.  It was bad enough that you have to put a face during Christmas dinner with people you detest.  Spending extended period of hours with them is way too much.  It’s like turning a Christmas dinner to a Halloween charade! The horrors!  I could easily suggest a theme for the next party- a costume party.  With all the mask worn, it is impossible to detect the cynism that comes with it.  It’s a good thing I was able to invent creative and acceptable reasons to excuse myself from the yearly farce.

So, after all this office Christmas party bashing, what is the best way to celebrate?  Honestly, I suggest offices simply host a simple sit down dinner.  Enough with pageantry and forced gift giving.  Give gifts only if you mean to and to the people who matters to you.  The simplest and sincerest tokens are the most appreciated.  All the material trappings should be divested.  After all, Jesus did away with the pageantry.  He did not choose the hippest venue.  He did not wear the most fashionable garb.  Mary did not even call the caterers.  Joseph did not set a minimum or maximum amount on the gifts. The magis went to the party on their own accord.  And most importantly, there was no production number from the domestic animals.  Even the animals served their proper function- as domestic animals, not the source of entertainment.   Let’s learn from them to make most of the holidays.

Wish List

I find it hard to believe that I can’t think of one single material thing for Christmas.  As Christmas nears, the wish list has always been a yearly staple.  It’s funny because, I never took the so-called “grown-up Christmas wish list” seriously.  Maybe this year, my wish list will be entirely different.  Why the sudden penchant for the non-material?  It could mean two things: (1)I’ve already grown-up and given up my “material” ways or (2)the situation around me has become unbearable (here I go again, I promised myself to stay away from political matters)….*sigh*

Anyway, here’s my grown-up Christmas wish list:

1)  that Filipinos love their country more than themselves.  We remain a third world country because we don’t love the Philippines enough.  Everything else will follow if we show enough compassion and action.  Enough said.

2) that everyone will listen to their conscience once in a while.  Applicable to almost every problem.

3) and world peace…seriously!, as cliche that wish sounds.  It is badly needed.

This list will long remain a list.  I have realized that a material wish list is much easier to achieve.  But then again, Christmas is coming…i could wish and wish to my heart’s delight

N.E.W.S.

I read somewhere that the word “news” is the acronym for the words- north, east, west and south.  Events from the four different corners of the world.  I get my daily dose of “news” from the newspaper.  Lately, I find myself skipping the headlines.  Not for the lack of interest in the current scenario/turmoil we are in.  I find nothing new with the morning headlines.  Same old stories-retold in a different scenario, with different political personalities, with the same old hidden political agendas.  I am not an expert when it comes to politics.  However, there comes a point when one can have so much.  Kawawa naman talaga ang pinoy.  Instead of starting a pity party this early, I skip the headlines and go straight to the entertainment section.  Apathy is slowly seeping in.  It’s an escapist excuse from the harsh realities we are in.  As I read the entertainment section, specifically the Comics, I momentarily forget the pathetic state we are in.  I drown the realities with each punchline I read.  I could laugh my head off with each joke because the joke ends with each strip.  Unlike the articles, where the joke never ends.  The jokes on us…the politicians are laughing their heads off as they punch us senseless with their wrongdoings.