CHRISTMAS... the festival celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. This Yuletide season opens with a series of misa de gallo or rooster's mass. Houses, streets and the church are brilliantly lighted and decorated with lanterns, Christmas tree, potted plants and streamers. The choir sings Christmas carols accompanied by tambourines. Carolers now go around singing and asking for money. From the midnight mass, people return home for the traditional midnight supper. Friends, relatives and neighbors sometimes drop in but the guests are few because every family has its own celebration.Christmas Day is called Pasko ng mga Bata - meaning that it is especially dedicated to children. They wear their best clothes. Children receive the most attention; for, as it often happens, Christmas is the only day of the whole year when they have a chance to visit their relatives and sponsors of baptism - their ninong and ninang.
Truly we have a form of giving, but not the spirit of it. Today, Christmas has become a shopping season. Christmas is over as soon as the wrapping paper has been set out in the trash. Poor Jesus! For on His birthday, we give earrings to mom, shirts to dad, and toys to siblings, but nothing to Him.. We yearn for possessions and not for Him. We seek out appropriate gifts for all our loved ones except for Him.
Do something good everyday not just on Christmas day. Help others, give to others because Christmas is a season of giving. The life lesson in giving is that one can never run out of giving because something always comes back to you, which you can give out again. Givers are one of the happiest people on earth. And children love being happy and giving is an attraction to them. No matter how tight the budget is, we all give gifts to the special people around us. Wrapped gifts are fun to open, but toys and things fade, deteriorate and break. I believe giving out to lots of valuable hugs, kisses , laughters and giggles have more lasting impact in the life of a person.
Give yourself the gift of realistic expectations. So many of us understand others are human and imperfect, but forget the same is true for ourselves.
Give the gift of time. Go to lunch with a friend you haven't seen in along time. Take time for yourself.
Give the gift of laughter. There is plenty of pain and suffering in the world and laughter helps us cope.
Give the gift of an open mind. Listen carefully to someone who disagrees with you or listen to the words of a song you have always ignored.
Give the gift of love. Tell the important people in your life how much they mean to you.
Christmas is just a few days away. Why not make this season a time to think of other children, who have less? Share your blessings, share the gospel, include them in your prayers.. Give them money/gifts open up your home to them. Let us detached from things of this world hat we cannot take when we go to our heavenly home..
Life's basic foundation is giving. We have a life because God gave us life. We are able to give the good life to others by giving ourselves to them. Celebrate giving, not only on Christmas but on every single day. And remember who is the real birthday celebrant!
This year, why not let Him be the guest of honor of your party?
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