The holiday season makes some of us movie fanatics picture Serendipity, Love Actually, The Holiday, The Family Man; the ice skating at Rockefeller Centre; upcountry skiing and tobogganing; snow scene Christmas cards; Santa Claus & Frosty; Christmas specials; and New Year Countdown at Times Square.
But for someone who now lives in one of the coldest parts of the earth, it isn’t just all that anymore. It is all that plus living the cold temperatures of -20s and -30s, where preparing to go out needs double time, where taking a bath becomes torture, where being in the car is like being in a cold storage, where driving becomes unsafe, where your fingertips get ice burn even with gloves, and where even just throwing garbage requires an outfit change. Needless to say, puffy jackets, knee-high boots, thermal underwear, dry skin, static hair, chapped lips, so on and so forth.
The good thing – the only thing I can think of -- about this season though is that you can put frozen food items in the garage if the freezer is full, and you can buy perishables like milk and cheese, leave them in the car, go on with your shopping and not worry about them spoiling.
And what else is good about this season? I have to say, Christmas. Although depressing most times, it triggers thoughts of Christmas back home and lots of memories with it:
- Christmas bazaars
- Christmas rush in tiangge
- Roasted chestnuts at Virra Mall
- Christmas tree and decors at Shangri-La
- Early Christmas tunes in shopping malls
- Different renditions of Pasko na Sinta ko
- Christmas in Our Hearts
- Children caroling in the street
- Thank you, thank u, ang babarat ninyo,…!
- Giving goodies to street beggars
- Choral contest in high school
- Christmas parties at work and in school
- UP Lantern Parade, Oblation Run & Miss Eng'g
- Shopping for and wrapping Christmas gifts
- Buying raffle prizes from Makro
- Giving away company t-shirts
- Ham & queso de bola, bibingka and biko
- Kris Kringle
- Beautifully decorated homes in
- The parols that line up in Gilmore
- Boom na
- Decorating Christmas tree in our house
- Christmas dinners at home
- Especially the platefuls of sua-he
- GMA & ABS’s Christmas campaigns
- The Metro Manila Film Fest craze
- Christmas-themed movies like Tanging Yaman
- Watching fireworks from the penthouse
- A-ko’s annual birthday party
- Christmas party at Sai’s house every 30th
- Watusi and fountain, those were the days
- 89.9 & 97.1 Top 100 countdown
- Out-of-town Christmas
- New Year in
- Lots of food, family, and friends
not
I’m Ù dreaming of a white Christmas. I want to be home for Christmas.
