What to look forward to every Christmas season.
By sharksfin
@sharksfin (1091)
Philippines
October 27, 2012 12:01pm CST
I can't think of any real happy Christmas I had. When I was still living with my folks, we never really celebrated Christmas eve like how most families do. Whoever wanted to eat, ate. Not much talking. There wasn't really celebration except, of course, there are variety of food on the table. I'd say there wasn't really the spirit of Christmas in there. So, coming up with a topic like this is really squeezing my brain. What do I look forward to every Christmas season? Gifts, food, celebration, togetherness...? Hmmm...
What I know about myself, I like being Santa. As much as possible, I want to give everyone gifts. Though, I rarely received gifts back. *sigh* But, that's really not so important to me. Am happy enough to make other people happy. Especially kids. I believe every child is expecting to receive and open gifts during Christmas eve. I was once a kid and I was always expecting to see gifts under the Christmas tree with my name on it. Only I always ended up disappointed. There was always none. *frowns* My godparents were all out of the country and they seemed to have forgotten about me almost immediately. I don't even know them, at all. Relatives -- aunts, uncles, grannies... sadly, we're not the close-family ties kind. So, nothing from them either. Parents aren't practicing giving. So, I guess, I had it in my heart to bring happiness by giving gifts during this season. And, it breaks my heart whenever I am incapable of giving everyone even small ones because of budget restriction.
Looks like this year is another year I won't be able to give everyone gifts. Only selected few. I look forward to giving, but unfortunately, I might not be able to (again). May God just be extra gracious to me and enable me to do so.
How about you? What are you excited about Christmas season?
1 person likes this
9 responses
@choybel (5042)
• Philippines
27 Oct 12
I can't really say I'm excited for anything this Christmas. I used to be so many years ago, back when my parents were still together. At that time, Christmas was something I would be so excited about because there were gifts, parties, food, relatives, and fun all around, I guess more importantly, there was the Spirit of Christmas that you just mentioned. After the separation, life became hard and Christmas became dull. well, the food and the relatives were still there but the spirit was gone. Now, as a young adult, i just try to bring back the spirit by being the fun guy in the family. I'd think of ways to make our family happy during the occasion through activities and jokes. It's not the same but as long as I try hard enough, maybe it could be even better.
@sharksfin (1091)
• Philippines
27 Oct 12
Sorry to know about that. My wish for you is that you won't anymore base your joy and happiness on circumstances. May you continue to bring about joy and happiness around you, in stead. Change your situation. Change your situation by being the change yourself. Christmas isn't really about whether couples remain together, family sticking together... we can still feel the spirit of Christmas when we have joy in our hearts. Maybe you just need to keep looking for reasons to look forward to it just like what am doing. Thanks for sharing, by the way.
@choybel (5042)
• Philippines
27 Oct 12
I know have my girlfriend, who I love so much, and I believe she is one of the reason that I am experiencing Christmas with more joy than I used to.
You are right though, changing myself to change the situation is something I must do, and I have been in that phase for a long time now. It is not easy but I am there and hoping that eventually things will be so much better.
@cearn25 (3456)
• Philippines
28 Nov 12
It's nice to experience the true essence of christmas. Well, fr me, I am looking forward this christmas season to really have a joyous one and my parents will be able to reconcile wth each other. There has been problems between them which involves being away and my father has an affair. It hurts to know the fact. Now my father wants to make up. I hope things will turn out to be great.
@gerald_lian (2188)
• Australia
28 Oct 12
For Christmas, the only thing I wish for is for me to spend it with people whom I care for and people who care for me. Ever since I was a kid, I have never received many gifts for Christmas, so I have gotten used to receiving no/few gifts for Christmas, which I believe is not that important anyway. Christmas has become so commercialized that I think many people are starting to stray from the true meaning of Christmas. 
I like the way you bring the joy to others by being in the spirit of giving instead of receiving, and I totally applaud you for that. It is this spirit of giving and sharing that makes Christmas a special time, and not so much so for receiving. 
Don't worry if you have to cut down your giving to a selected few due to budget restrictions; as long as you give to the best of your ability, I don't think anyone should be faulting you for that. As for myself, ever since I migrated to another country about 5 years ago for study/work purposes and not knowing many people here, Christmas has been relatively quiet for me. There have been families that have been kind enough to invite me over for the family Christmas celebrations, which I am deeply appreciative for, but I sometimes feel like a black sheep among them because obviously, I am not part of their "real" family. 
I like the way you bring the joy to others by being in the spirit of giving instead of receiving, and I totally applaud you for that. It is this spirit of giving and sharing that makes Christmas a special time, and not so much so for receiving. Don't worry if you have to cut down your giving to a selected few due to budget restrictions; as long as you give to the best of your ability, I don't think anyone should be faulting you for that. As for myself, ever since I migrated to another country about 5 years ago for study/work purposes and not knowing many people here, Christmas has been relatively quiet for me. There have been families that have been kind enough to invite me over for the family Christmas celebrations, which I am deeply appreciative for, but I sometimes feel like a black sheep among them because obviously, I am not part of their "real" family. 
@joliefille (3690)
• Philippines
15 Nov 12
What I look forward to this Christmas is my freedom from work! Hahaha. I have resigned from my work this month and I had been with the company for 4 years and 10 months. I couldn't even have normal holidays and vacations because I was the only person in the company who speaks and writes Spanish and I would have to attend any Spanish inquiry coming in. No excuses, be it weekend or a declared holiday.
I am also looking forward to spend it with my family since for a decade I have rarely spent it with my family as I did not go back to my hometown to celebrate it. Though in my case it's the opposite from yours in the sense that my family is really noisy hahha.
@airasheila (5454)
• Philippines
28 Oct 12
a pleasant day sharksfin,
honestly, there's a lot of things i look forward to have this Christmas. that the very first thing i want to have is to be with my family again. to patch up every bits of gap that has happened between me and my brother. that because of this gap, our relationship as sister and brother has been ruined. my mom, my two sisters as well as my sister-in-law cannot do anything to stop the wrong attitude being done by my brother. even my brother's idea are not correct, they are just ignoring it as if nothing happened. they just let the situation pass without telling my brother that what he is doing is incorrect.
and because, i don't want to tolerate my brother's attitude, so i make a move to help him realize things. but the result end up in a big argument since he refuse to accept that he is incorrectly doing things. instead of giving remedy to the situation, my mom, two sisters as well as his wife tolerated him. so i was left alone in the situation. that everytime me and my brother crosses our path, a fight, a miscommunication, a gap has been arising. and now, even my niece and nephew are included in the dispute since my brother order his children not to mingle and talk with me. since we are just living under one roof, so whenever we are seeing each other inside the house, tension takes place. and because i don't want the situation to get worse, i have choose to live out from our home.
frankly speaking, i feel sad to what is happening to us but i don't want to tolerate the incorrect attitude being shown by my brother so i chose to do what i think is right. the thing is, they did not supported me instead they tolerated my brother. so my brother thinks that he is correct and i am completely wrong. 
@yahnee (1243)
• Philippines
28 Oct 12
I like Christmas. I like looking at the Christmas decors, lights and Christmas trees. I find the season quite happy and exciting even if we do not actually celebrate Christmas in the home. I usually prepare some food but we tend to celebrate New Year better. I don't remember when we started to stop celebrating Christmas the way we used to. However, I still enjoy Christmas and still manage to buy gifts for the kids, love ones and friends. I usually get my share of gifts which can be quite exciting.
@GemmaR (8517)
•
27 Oct 12
I always look forward to this time of year, because of the fact that I get a little bit of time away from everything that I am able to spend with my family and do things with them that we don't normally have the time to do. My Father works at a school so that means that he is able to get the same holidays as them, and my brother is at college so we all get the same amount of time off to be able to do things. I think that it is always important that you should spend time with your family if you're able to, because you should never take them for granted.
@Autumnrose2008 (1478)
• United States
27 Oct 12
I love Christmas time its about so much more than just gifts. I take the time to read the story of Jesus to my kids each Christmas to remind them of the reason for Christmas. When I am broke and don't have a lot to give I make up goodie trays with all kinds of home made goodies like cookies, candies, and fudge, I have also done up jars with cookie mixes in them minus the liquid ingredients and gave those as gifts. I have also made up some homemade jams and made those into gifts. Just because you dont have a lot of money does not mean that you cant get every one a little something. I will also do a family picture and put that into a nice frame and give that as a gift as well. There are many ideas out there for gifts that are cheap if not free. Good luck with your gift search I hope your able to find something for every one.
@mariaperalta (19073)
• Mexico
28 Oct 12
I love xmas time. its my favorite time of the year. As my 2 sisters come to mexico for 2 weeks from the usa. I dont get to see them often anymore. We go for walks in Mexicos xmas park. Shoppping at the mall, and eat and eat. Cant wait for xmas.
