Nobody, nobody but you!

It's been a while since my last post. Anyway, holidays naman. And nobody was supposed to visit my blog during the holidays, right? Wala na gani time mag-shopping, tapos mag-surf pa sa blog? People thought my insomnia has been cured because of the absence of any post. But it was understandable that even if I still couldn't sleep, I would be doing something else, rather than just sit in front of my computer. The past weeks, even salesgirls, or especially salesgirls stayed up late. Baw, grabe gid mag-shopping mga tawo.

I too had to chauffer my family to shopping and visiting sorties. And these sorties sometimes lasted up to the wee hours!

But now, tapos na Christmas, and the shopping rush and spending woes that went with it. It was a habit of Filipinos to really splurge during Christmas. It was also a habit of malls and other business establishments to mark down prices or put up Sale gimmicks to entice and squeeze out the last money from gullible holiday shoppers. Anyway, better to give than to receive daw. But tell that to the marines, as I witnessed faces fell in Christmas gatherings because,after spending a lot for the exchange gift, some participants resented it when they received obviously cheap items from ukay-ukay or tiyangge sale; or they were about to cry after receiving a piece of handkerchief or a lavacara, knowing fully well that they bought branded t-shirt or other pricey items for their own exchange gift. They even had their gifts specially wrapped with special wrappers by paid wrapping counters that sprout along mall aisles, only to be forcefully torn by excited receivers. They didn’t even appreciate, even for a few minutes, the art and the skill that went with the gift wrapping.

In my family, we too had our share of budget scare. No matter how we limit the expenses, it seemed the final bill was always over the budget.

We shopped and purchased gift items and groceries for Christmas dinner early to avoid the rush only to find even as late as the eve of Christmas that we failed to purchase some required items. For example, we planned to cook pancit molo, our tradition, for Noche Buena. Days before, we drove to Panaderia de Molo to purchase the chicken molo balls. My kids and nieces love their molo balls! On Christmas eve, as my wife was cooking the molo, she discovered we had no molo noodles and spring onions. I hated the queues and the road traffic while paying or while driving, as the case maybe. So I purchased the noodles in a small tindahan near my mother’s house kilometers away when I fetch my mother for midnight mass.

Every Christmas we attend Misa de Gallo in the Colegio de San Jose chapel. The chapel is walking distance from my house and its Christmas eve mass at 10:00 pm is earlier than in our hometown. After the mass, my mother, my siblings and an assortment of nieces, apos and in-laws gather in my house for Noche Buena, exchange gift, and a party. For years now, we gather in my house because my house is the most accessible and the biggest in my mother’s family (but not anymore).

Also, every year my sisters and nieces choose a color motif for our Christmas attire. This year 2009, it was violet, lavender, purple, indigo, whatever. Everybody had an exciting time scouring the malls and tiangges for their Christmas attire. In my case, I already eyed some violet t-shirts in some boutiques. On Christmas eve, when I was about to purchase my shirt, I discovered there was no size for me. Nag-panick na ako. Violet is an uncommon color for men’s clothes. The only store I thought I have not gone to was Collezione. I thought I would be wearing one of its shirt, the most worn t-shirt this side of the planet this season (which I don’t like to wear because it was so common) – the one with the map of the Philippines embroidered on its breast. From Noynoy and Kris Aquino, to the TV news anchors and reporters, to salesgirls and even cigarette vendors – they wear proudly the Philippine map on their breasts. Very nationalistic, indeed. But do I have to wear what half of the Filipinos were wearing? Luckily, there was also no size for me at Collezione. The last boutique I went to was Folded&Hung. I avoided this boutique because its items were very expensive. But now I discovered it sold t-shirts for below Php500.00. And they had all the colors of the rainbow. I also liked their t-shirt with the Philippine map. Its embroidered outline of the map extended up to the collar, with the upper part of Luzon already embroidered on the collar. Cool. At least iba. But then, there was also no size for me. Uso kasi ngayon in the Philippines ang body-fit style of shirts, na nakadikit sa body na parang balat ng suman. Bagay sa mga kids and students. But for an older professional like me, parang trying hard ang dating sa akin. Parang nag-shrink ng todo ang damit mo, and you still have to wear it because you have no choice, dahil wala ka nang pambili. So I bought my violet shirt from F&H, the one without the map.

On the night of the Misa de Gallo, my kids and nieces were excited to wear their attires. We first had a group picture-taking before proceeding to the church. It was nice to know that, in the wake of the Filipino diaspora, many of us were still together to celebrate Christmas. There were new faces, as a niece got a husband, and a brother had an apo. But I was sad to know that other faces in our last Christmas picture were no longer with us - a niece went abroad to work and my only nephew who was my constant companion was in London with his parents. The world is getting smaller. Every Christmas, there is always a missing face in our group picture. Who would we miss next Christmas? Can we ever gather completely again?

The church goers were staring and smiling at us, as twenty-plus of us, and my wheel-chair bound mother and the babies, paraded to the church wearing all shades of violet. Probably, many were thankful they were not wearing the same color, else they be mistaken as members of our boisterous family.

The mass was long as it was preceded by a re-enactment of the Nativity starting from the arrival of Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem up to the birth of Jesus and the coming of the three Kings. The children were happily watching at the start, and silently sleeping when the play ended. We had a hard time keeping them awake during the mass.

We had a hearty Noche Buena after the mass. And exchange gifts and games. Two computers with webcams were strategically placed in our sala so our homesick relatives abroad can also join us on real time. The kids danced like they were drunk. And they danced mostly to the tune of Nobody, Nobody But You. They kept on replaying the music and dancing to its beat, I thought my eardrums would burst. It would have been nice to hear Jingle Bells or Silent Night as it was Christmas. The kids only stopped the music when we had our ‘exchange gifts’. Afterwards they were snickering as they thought their gifts came from Santa Claus, but they said it was actually their Tita - my sister – who gave them all the gifts. I received a replica of the crucified Jesus as gift from my SP (special pal).

At 1:30 am, I drove my mother to her house in our hometown, as she will never sleep in any house but her own. When we arrived in the town 25km away, I passed by many cars and people. I found out the mass had just finished and people were still going home for their Noche Buena at 2:00 am.

In the morning, we all woke up late. And we ate all the left-overs from the previous night’s meal. The children were again preparing a dance number for the Christmas Party with their friends in our compound. I told them they should dance to any music except Nobody, Nobody But You. They just laughed. Then they all swayed their hips as Nobody, Nobody But You shattered the morning calm.


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