and so this is christmas

in two weeks, it will be christmas. i just finished decorating. and my only decor this year is the christmas tree. i kept to last year's silver theme. and added christmas balls to the icicles and the string of silver pearls. then i became obsessed with finding snowflake trimmings. there used to be so much of that. sus! i wnet around and around looking for one. finally found some nice silver ones in ace hardware. and my tree is done.

i just sat there, admiring my work. naks. who else will anyway? lol. and im thinking how different christmas will be this year.

my previous chrstmas activities included, of course, shopping for gifts. which i actually enjoy. i challenge myself to get the perfect gift within the budget i have set. that's why my gift list has budget amounts per person! so i have an idea, or a total budget, for gifts. and i shouldn't overspend. shopping stresses me out, too. especially trying to guess if the gift will be appreciated. but that would be for family, special friends and that special someone.

for people in the office, i usually just buy ham. its practical. and it turns out that they actually look forward to it. especially now when gifts of ham seem to be few or none at all. so i order in bulk. and i let my secretary distribute. less headache. more people happy.

then there are the inaanaks. which is cash. i can begin to imagine what they would want. most of them i hardly get to see. so i buy those money cards and, voila! im done.

as i rose up the ranks, i started to get more and more gifts. from suppliers (expected) then even from the employees. this if find touching. because they really go out of their way to get me something, even if simple. and i just usually let them pile up in my office, without opening a single one. i bring them all home and open them come christmas morning. oh how i used to love opening and opening gifts. taking out the ribbons. tearing open the wrapping. the household help would delight watching me. they never saw so many gifts.

but i stopped that recently. i found out belatedly that some gifts were food that spoiled. sayang naman. so i usually check my gifts already even before christmas morning.

im also so lazy to do shopping now. so i decided to give to friends gifts of health from the company. and no, these gifts are not freebies. i actually still pay for them at employee's discount.

i dont do the simbang gabi thingie. i remember one time decades ago when i tried. i was still in a different gym. and id get up early to jog within the area before the gym opens. i saw that there was a chapel along my jogging route. so i decided to do the simbang gabir novenas. i d get to the chapel in my jogging outffit. and i almost completed it. but i had to be in pampanga during one day. and i wasnt able to schedule my simbang gabi that one time. so nasira rin ang plano ko. never again will i even attempt.

christmas eve is uneventful for me. my parents sleep early. my siblings are all abroad. so i usually just play christmas songs and sleep early. christmas dayi tself is bigger, when my mom hosts parties for the kamag-anaks.

christmas this time carries a sort of sad note. news from office performance, from my sisters and brother, well werent so positive. but after our office christmas party yesterday, i felt better. because christmas is simply christ+mas = putting more of christ in the celebration. i liked that. i ended my speech that way last night.

and so this is christmas. and it will still be a wonderful christmas!