Childhood Christmas
Last Updated on: 15th July 2018, 03:06 pm
Christmas spirit is stronger than ever this year, since it’s just 8 days before the celebration. Shopping malls extended up to 11 PM, string of Christmas lights everywhere, Christmas songs are almost played by every store/mall/restaurant I’ve been to, the list goes on and on. I’m starting to think that Christmas has become so much commercialized that we forget the real meaning of the season- to give love and thank God for everything.
Christmas during my childhood was one of my happiest memories of my life. It was much simple compared today, but it was more meaningful and unforgettable 🙂
Back then, me and my siblings belong to this clique, the Ironberks. The name is a combination of our street, Ironbark + Berks, which is a tagalog slang for barkada (clique). Like other barkadas in our neighborhood, we have our own annual Christmas party and our family is always the host for the event ! 🙂 My parents are not bothered either, they always prepare delicious meals for us in the party and come up with many parlor games! (Paper dance and stop dance FTW). I remembered my mom used to give 20 pesos for each of us and 100 pesos for those who won the games 🙂 we were so crazily happy back then and the fun part is the exchange gift. The plot twist? we bought our presents together, I mean all of us bought our gifts in the same dept store and same time! LOL 😀 (of course we didn’t tell each other the person that will receive our gift, its no fun anymore!).
We used to have dance presentation for every party and even if we have crazy choreography, our audience which composed of my family and my friend’s families, applauded for us + 500 pesos cash prize! how cool was that 😀 We danced to Wonder Girls Nobody, Lose my breath by destiny’s child and even to Average Joe! 😀
Last but not the least, our Christmas celebration won’t be complete without singing Christmas carols in every house on our neighborhood + the 9 -day Simbang Gabi. Our “pangangarolin” starts every december 20 or 21 and we usually collect up to 500 pesos! 😀 I couldn’t forget the time when we sang our Christmas carols in this particular house, and they gave 100 pesos+ a picture taking with us! Even with our awful voices still, we managed to make people smile 🙂
Our last Christmas party with Ironberks was last 2008 and after that, we grew apart and went into separate ways. I guess it’s part of growing up and nothing really lasts forever. It doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoyed Christmas since then- I was really grateful that I get to spend every Christmas with my family. It’s just that back when I was kid, as early as September, I was already anticipating Christmas and everyone is just sincerely happy, not for the sake of presents or just to say that they are celebrating Christmas.
Still, I’m looking forward to Saturday and our relatives will also celebrate with us 🙂 May we have a very merry Christmas and let us not forget that this celebration is not for us, but for Jesus Christ. 🙂
