It’s the time of the year
It’s the time of the year again when we get swept in a tidal wave of festivities because of the intermingled celebrations of the Christmas season, the end of the year, and the arrival of a new year.
Regardless of the level of our Christian faith, or even lack of it, there’s no escape from the frenzy of revelries that take place in the year-ending month of December. Our streets, business areas, workplaces, and neighbors’ houses get garbed in flamboyant ornamentations. The merchandises sold in our markets level up to the merriments with their diversity of colors, increased variety, and bloated volume. There are multiple parties that we are obliged to attend, hosted by our families, friends, community, organizations, and offices. We get serenaded with music jingles that seasonally roost in our airwaves like migratory birds. And we become recipients of gifts from benefactors who demonstrate generosity without expectations of reciprocation.
The festivities that take place on both days of Christmas and New Year are actually serene and tranquil get-togethers, compared to the revelries that happen during the run-up days and weeks. Perhaps because the parties are smaller as we retreat in the intimate company of our family, in contrast to the many big and boisterous gatherings that we have in the days before the two celebrated events. The frenzy of buying sprees, the attendance in early masses, the influx of carolers, the arrival of gifts, and the increased chit-chat with kin and brethren, all these add to the more festive atmosphere of the pre-day celebrations.
It’s the time of the year when we are most nostalgic about the past, because it’s a season when we reminisce a lot of bygone days, especially remembering days with our departed loved ones. It may have to do with the season’s songs, which trigger memories of people and events in our past lives. Christmas songs are like wormholes that bring the past and the present to coexist in our minds.
It’s the time of the year when we have salutations of thankfulness for the present, and momentary forgetfulness of the tribulations in our lives. We temporarily set aside misfortunes that bug us, and obtain furlough from the captive embrace of our anxieties. It’s the season when we are in the most forgiving mood as well.
It’s the time of the year when we have expectations of better times for the future as we suffuse the years ahead with hopefulness. Because the holiday season includes both an end of an old year and the beginning of a new year, the optimism is probably our way of resetting the time clock in our minds as we embark on another travel around the sun, in our lifetime quest for meaning and contentment.
It’s the time of the year when we throw caution to the wind, finance-wise, as we try to ensure that our dinner table gets laden with the family’s most desired cuisines, our dear ones receive presents intended to engender maximum cheer, and our home is bedecked with the most vibrant ornaments.
It’s the time of the year when we are the most generous version of ourselves. It’s probably the one sure time, during our annual journey around our life-giving star, that we concern ourselves with how much sunshine our less fortunate connections receive. The general mood of kindheartedness is bared by the increased number of indigents who roam our roads and knock on our doors for alms, because they sense that altruism is thick in the air.
It’s the time of the year when we are most predisposed to reconnect with our old ones and young ones, and even travel back to the place where we sprang up in this world. Perhaps this is a subliminal manifestation of our gratefulness for the past and hopefulness for the future.
It is the time of the year when we exhibit the better versions of ourselves—optimistic, forgiving, cheerful, carefree, and generous. May we carry on continuously making better iterations of ourselves toward family, friends, country, and our planet.
Merry Christmas!
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