’TIS the most wonderful time of the year, so says a popular Christmas song that’s currently blaring across the metropolis’ airwaves.

For a moment, as I heard that tune while doing my usual strolls in the mall adjacent to our neighborhood, I almost couldn’t believe that the most anticipated season of the year for everyone, especially the children and the young-at-heart, is once more just around the corner. In fact, this much-awaited event which many refer to as the “holiday season” is no longer months or weeks away, but only days. One can already count with his/her fingers the number of days left before the “Big Day” of all Christendom.

And around town, one can see that the trappings of Christmas are everywhere. The Christmas spirit is upon each one of us. Bright lights glitter across the landscape of the metropolis, particularly the streets in the neighborhood, with elegantly-designed Christmas lanterns, small and blinking Christmas lights arranged in ornate patterns, and even huge set pieces depicting the Nativity and other Christmas symbolisms. Houses and offices alike do their share of livening up the spirit by installing various holiday buntings and trimmings to adorn their surroundings, eventually culminating in Christmas parties and gift-giving. For families, there’s the traditional noche buena on Christmas Eve. Radio stations are dishing out holiday songs sung since time immemorial, their way perhaps of telling us to forget our problems and shortcomings for now and get on with our lives! Sounds good to the ears, huh?

Shopping centers and businesses are of course never far behind in the picture: the “shop-till-you-drop” mentality of the season will make sure that malls aren’t left out of the hoopla.

In all these, I’ve lost track time and again of the focal point of the holiday celebrations: the commemoration of the birth of our Redeemer. Everyone is on holiday hype mode – the mad scramble for gift-buying right after receiving Christmas bonuses, the parties, even the cold breeze that smells faintly of wrapping paper. The cold front downed me with flu just recently—which only goes to show that unlike many of you, I am not yet ready for the season.

I have zero balance in my bank account right now. Nada. Nil. Zilch. Even if I were to save some money just to ride out the holiday hype, it would still be too late. So, unlike last year’s holidays when I had five-digit savings in the bank and all I was thinking about was where to spend all that money, this time I’m expecting a personally quieter celebration —on the last Christmas of the millennium at that.

Well, things are different when you’re penniless. While the rest of the world makes merry, I see myself as a poor guy displaced in a society where money dictates the tempo of everyday affairs. Whatever—I’m a Marx fan. Good thing this early my mom has given me some gift checks I can use to buy some good clothes for the season; the rest I plan to use to purchase personal effects throughout the year. (See, I still end up going back to shopping. Huh!.) Nevertheless, with or without the cold cash, I’ll still make sure this season is worth celebrating.

My personal poverty isn’t the only crisis I’m worried about. I agree with some people – maybe it’s not practical to celebrate Christmas the way we do every year, given how far we have yet to go to revive our economy. This country is still on ICU, economically speaking, with no vital signs in sight. That’s why sometimes I get the notion that it’s better to be a scrooge in these times —God knows how hard it is to scrape for money just to put that tempting ham on the noche buena table. Add to that the pressure you feel with the overwhelmingly materialistic bent of the season you’re in!

Still, I keep faith that if we return to our roots and imbibe the real essence of the season, which are hope and redemption, we’d be out of the woods in no time. Isn’t that a good reason to celebrate as well?

Merry Christmas, everyone.

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