Christmas Rush

Gift wrapping courtesy of SM Department Store.

Are you done with your Christmas shopping? I am, proudly so because I started early before the Halloween. I'm just down to the last few trips to the grocery. Yup, still a few trips as I round up the menu for Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day lunch. 

I am at this sweet spot again trying to compose an entry just so to update this blog. Well, it never fails me. These coffee and brownie always get my brain working a bit and my thumbs typing away on my phone. Thanks, Brownies Unlimited. 

It's a Tuesday, just eight days to go before Christmas, and this "supermall" is packed. Shoppers are bustling around me as I write this. The clothes at the kids department are in disarray, as are the cute notebooks/diaries at the stationery section. Such pictures of disarray are duplicated in most sections of the department store. The ambient noise is maybe thrice as loud as when I was last here, two months back. 

I am happily sipping my coffee and biting into my little red velvet in between typing these no-brainer what-nots. Pardon me. Oblige me. It's the season to be kind and tolerant, remember? 

I love that SM has free gift-wrapping services. For many years, I've been a patron especially during this time of the year. While the last batch of gifts I bought is being wrapped, I get to write a bit. Over the years, SM has been putting out more beautiful, classy wrappers that could rival Rustans' except for the latter's matching rich, satin bows. I am admittedly an SM shopper, lucky you, Henry Sy! I helped put you in the lists of the richest people.

Today, I have proven the hypothesis that Christmas makes us less of thinkers, more impulsive with our purchases. I am guilty of spending more than what is needed. I again could not resist buying clothes for my little fashionista daughter. There was this cute floral cotton skirt marked at 50% off, from the classy-but-not-pricey Peppermint brand. I couldn't resist buying the skirt as seeing it had me thinking past Christmas and onto summer!! And what a great find it was for only Php250! So I quickly processed in my mind that it was the last unplanned purchase I would make, and convinced myself that it was okay to splurge a bit because it's Christmas. And Christmas only comes upon us once a year. So there, what the heck, I had to buy a shirt that would match the skirt! I found the perfect shirt to match and bought it at a regular price. 

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I read that socialites Mrs Enrile and Mrs Binay take to the grocery as therapy to drown out the political noise hounding their husbands. While I am not a socialite nor a politician's wife, nor have any problem even remotely related as regards my husband, I agree that doing the grocery is an important household chore, and spending is therapy. Now, I'm off to do the grocery. :-) 

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Happy last-minute shopping. Enjoy the Christmas rush because you're sharing your blessings, and celebrating in thanksgiving. :-) 

My sweet spot at SM Supermall.

The Act of Giving

Don’t we all just love Christmas? Filipinos that we are, no matter what, no matter how meager our finances might be, whatever our present circumstances, we would always find a way to celebrate Christmas. To us, it’s the season of giving and sharing, our version of Thanksgiving Day.

As a continuation of my last post, last Saturday was a day I would want to imprint in my mind. On that day, I picked up a valuable lesson from my very own son about how it is to truly give.

We went to the newly opened Uni Qlo shop that occupies a vast three-floor space at the end of Building B of SM Megamall. While I was busy checking out discounted items, Garrett asked permission to go around by himself, to “explore,” he said. I allowed him to roam around, well, with some hesitation since I don’t really feel it’s safe for children to go around in a mall, as big and crowded as Megamall is, without a companion. After some time, he came back to me with a striped XL shirt and a pair of socks, saying he wanted to buy them for his dad. I discouraged him, explaining that I have learned my lesson not to buy his dad clothing items. He was insistent though. He said he just wanted to have something to give as a Christmas gift to his dad, and showed me that the socks were on sale, and that the total price was P400. I said, “No.” “Alright, alright,” Garrett conceded, and asked if he could further explore the store.

After around 20 minutes or so, he came back to me again, this time with a Mickey Mouse shirt, worth P400, which he wanted to buy for Gabee. I then asked him how he would be able to buy it when he had no money. I would later find out that Garrett thought he still had P400+ left with me, the balance of a cash gift he got from an aunt of mine who visited us last month. When I handed him a 1,000-peso bill to pay for a book that he bought just before going to Uni Qlo, he thought I was buying the book for him with my money, when in my mind, that was the money he had me keep for him. We misunderstood each other. In his mind, what money he had in my wallet was a few 100-peso bills and some loose change, the very same ones that he handed me before. He didn’t realize that his money got mixed with my own.

Garrett wanted to use up all the money he had left to buy his dad or his sister a Christmas gift. “So, that was why you were frantically going around?” I asked him. He said, “Yes,” in a soft, sad voice, realizing that he actually had no money to buy a gift for his dad or his little sis. Looking at him, disappointed and sad, it dawned on me how selfless he is. I knew there were other stuff (books, pens and notebooks) which he wanted for himself.

I was touched and was embarrassingly in tears as I agreed that I would just pay for the gift he wanted to buy for his sister. I praised his virtuous intention. And then, of course, I suggested that we go around again and look for something, worth P400, which his sister needs and would love to have.

Garrett has taught me a lesson on the act of giving. Give all that you have. Think not of yourself. I was again in tears as I related what happened to his dad and to his sister when we got home.

That Symbolic Christmas Tree

Have you put up your Christmas tree yet? In the Philippines where the Christmas season starts on the first of September, mall displays build up the Christmas fever.  TV shows and radio stations start their countdown to Christmas day. Soon after, streets and parks take on a glittery landscape with trees and buildings bedecked with Christmas lights. People start buying decors and houses brighten up with Christmas lights and lanterns.

By November, after Undas (All Saints’ Day), preparations would pick up. Christmas is now undeniably around the corner. We decorate our houses, make lists for gifts, and we start spending more. Most everything would be on the uptrend – business profits, income owing to bonuses, OFW remittances, hotel occupancy, flight bookings, etc. Most people are also in high spirits, more giving, more forgiving. But some who have just lost loved ones by whatever circumstance, or have been through tough times recently might want quiet time, and opt to skip the revelry. We should respect that.

For many Filipino families likes ours, Christmas without that symbolic faux pine tree just doesn’t feel complete. I remember as a child I would go to great lengths to put up a Christmas tree from out of dried twigs or branches, assembled in a can wrapped in nice paper and containing big rocks to hold the weight. At the time, my family was living in a small apartment sitting out-of-place in an “exclusive” subdivision in Quezon City. I had a playmate who had this huge Christmas tree with pretty decors. I wanted my own, too. My mother would buy multi-colored Christmas lights and small balls in assorted colors, some shaped into apples. We would then have our own improvised but charming Christmas tree every year. There was also always that “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” banner that we would post on our wall, and that glittery long garland (usually in red, green, and silver) which we would shape into a star and thumb-tuck to a wooden wall (Hope you can picture what I mean.). Christmas trees I recall were expensive back in the 80s, only the rich could afford them. Or maybe that was just how it felt at the time; I was around nine years old, and my youngest sister had just arrived – to enjoy the twinkling lights. J

Fast forward to 29 years later, I now have this Christmas tree which I’ve enjoyed putting up with the help of my little girl. Actually, this tree is now eight years old. I just keep buying additional decors every year to spruce it up. This year, I am very happy with the additional elves, snowmen, and Santas, which I scored from a Uratex factory outlet very cheaply. J

I love love love our Christmas tree, and everything that it symbolizes for me, and the Christmases they remind me of.