Christmas Eve

It is not holiday here right before Christmas. Work insists to be faced until sunset since I am due until 7 o'clock in the evening. Probably when I get home, I would skype with my family that is miles away from my room. If not, I may treat myself with a big dinner in my favorite restaurant.

As I am writing this one, I cannot stop but smile, thinking of the good old days during the Christmas season. Here are some:

My mother would always wanted to at least prepare even a single dish on Christmas Eve. Some Christmases, we ate just a pack of loaf bread with soft drinks. When money was quite abundant, of course, we prepared much food which could be eaten even two days after the celebration. There were also times that my family couldn't afford to have even one (my mom would just tell us to reserve everything on the eve of New Year) but the true essence of Christmas was felt and that was being together celebrating each other's triumphs and failures in life.

My sister, who inherits my mom's way of thinking during the holidays, has never neglected to provide something on the table on Christmas Eve. With her husband and two young boys and my mom, Christmas has always been merry at home. Sometimes when the first of the two boys had difficulty waking up on Christmas Eve, my sister had to urge him up, then we ate, and be together until one by one fell into slumber. The younger one, who is always playfully stubborn, has got to get out to meet his cousins, and lit some fireworks which always caused my mom to get worried until he would have not gone home.

Celebrating Christmas is not only about the food we prepare on the 24th. It is not only about the gifts or presents we give and receive. Christmas is a celebration of love and joy in the family that food, presents, or money can't buy. It is a celebration of gratitude towards each other in the family.

If there is really nothing to put on the table this Christmas Eve, fill our homes with love instead. Pure joy is felt when genuine love is present in the family. 

Wow! My eyes can't hold my tears anymore. I cry not because I am regretful, but it is because I feel this unconditional love coming from my family all the way across the sea. I may be far away from them but my heart  is with them incessantly this Christmas Holidays!

bare, naked

No, I have got nothing on

I am bare, naked
Walking on this cold road
The chill is getting into my bones
Wanting even just a spark of heat
No, I have got no one to turn to
They shun me being stripped
Now I am heading nowhere
This chill is consuming me
This chill numbs my inmost being 

distinct stigma

Most of her friends proudly attest that she is really a good person. They revere her as the most iconic figure when it comes to friendship, spirituality, social works, and other things that involve community services. But what has gone wrong? Why people still have a more distinct stigma of her?

Yes, there is no question of her dedication to serve her peers and the people around her. With her golden heart, she touches their lives in one way or another. She is mostly present when a friend desperately needs a single advice or two. She is there when the church needs someone to do some chores and rituals. She is there when a certain group needs a hand. But what has gone wrong? Why people still have a more distinct stigma of her?

Here is the real deal:

Outside, she is seen as a near perfect example of her kind. She is dubbed as a 'superwoman' who can fly from one place to another. But  she tends to be another person when she is inside the house. Since she is always visible in any event outside she neglects to manage her affairs inside the house. She can't even fix her bed. She doesn't live alone. It wouldn't have any problem but she shares a room with a friend. She doesn't do any household chores. She only leaves all household works to anyone inside the house. Even just a 3-minute broom around the house is so difficult for her to do. In short, she doesn't know anything that concerns household activities.

Charity begins at home so as goodness should start inside us . There is no sense why we should be good outside without proper management of our affairs inside. Though there is a potential possibility to be good outside but ruined inside, vice versa, this is never advisable. There should be symmetry. When a woman puts some maskara on her left eye, she also puts similar amount on her right eye. If not, she will look strange, insane.

easy sex

"You only need me when you want to have sex with me!" she yelled at him and hurriedly went out then closed the door.

"No. It is not like that..." he did not even finish his sentence but she was gone, fast.

She was not even the first. She was perhaps the hundredth, or more. He did not even know her name.  His room had been so busy as a restaurant with customers. It had been open 24 hours like a convenience store, but here was different, everything was for free.

What has gone wrong?

We are now living in a very dynamic world. Everything changes in just a snap of a finger. People, old or young, have changed the definition of propriety radically.

Easy sex. This is how we coin it. It is like picking a flower in a garden.

How promiscuous is the society we are in right now?

the magic of love

Yes, the magic of love.

Have there been times when you want to find love but it seems like it exists nowhere but when you don't really find it, it finds you, all at the same time?

Rooney, at the age of 30, is financially and emotionally ready to be in a relationship. She had tried to find love in places around or even far from her but she couldn't just find one. There were many signs but they all failed leaving her alone. There were guys whom she had had affection with but they all went into one place--into nowhere. Hopelessly she could have just given up but she has been moving on and continuing life, now, without finding anyone.

But right at this moment, ironically, love has been finding her. She is being surrounded with various guys who want to be a part of her life. Some are serious and want to settle down with her. All she has to do is to choose who among these men has the edge and the purest intention to her. They all come, altogether, just one moment in time.

Yes, that is the magic of love.

i am a christian

"I am a Christian.

I hate some of the people around me. They always make our life miserable. I hate how they run the government. I don't like them when they are loudly shouting at each other in a market. Or maybe how slow they are when I am at a grocery store. I hate their culture. I hate all about them.

I am a Christian.

I talk about my friends to other friends. When one does something bad, I hurriedly go to my other friends to tell something fishy about the this one. I tolerate anything that they do as long as they are happy; then I am happy too. Sometimes if I don't like a friend, I just don't talk to him. Or when I am aggravated by him, I will never talk to him again.

I am a Christian.

I am so critical about other religions. I hate them because of their belief either in their gods or other creatures. I also dislike the practice of others about how they worship their icons. I think that I and my church friends are the only people who will go to heaven.

I am a Christian.

I forsake my brother. I hate my sister. I dislike my mother for being a nagger. I hate my father for not giving me what I want in life."

Is this a modern example of Christian? If yes, are you like this?

my ordinary kite

Since nylon string was quite expensive during my time, I used to untangle fish net until I had combined a very long set of string of different colors. Then, I round this string on an empty can of sardines. Once the string was ready, I began to choose some thin but sturdy broomsticks at the back of the house. Then, I cut and designed newspaper, or if none, just plain paper. When all materials were ready, I had to get a pinch or two of leftover rice for gluing-- the edges, the middle-- until I came up with a beautiful possession. The unused strips of paper which were not that cut so evenly were placed  at the lower part of it as tail. 

I was just a simple kid. My family was not well-off to afford expensive toys. Since home was quite near to an open field in our village, when seasons turned sunny and windy, I used to make very ordinary kites.

In the field, at first,  I had to spread the kite on the ground and its tail, then walked to a certain distance, and finally pulled the kite until it got steadily flying up in the air. Once the kite happily moved up above, I enjoyed releasing more of  the string in order for the kite to get higher and farther.

There was one time when the sun hastily wanted to go to the west  as I was lying in the middle of the field and looking at my kite, I began to imagine to have flown a bigger and more beautiful kite. I prayerfully dreamed of being  a kite connoisseur with more colorful papers and stronger nylon strings.

I only knew how to make and fly an ordinary kite. I only dreamed of being a simple kite flyer. Now, I am maneuvering a bigger one that stays in the air even a day or two. It is really huge that it can also carry many people. It may not have colorful papers or strong nylon string but this big kite has become the color and stanchion of my life for so many years now.

how much time

"I have travelled far just to be with you but still you can't give much of your time?"

This echoed in the air on a foggy night right in the middle of an old bridge in a park. After these words, Marvin ran fast like there was no one could ever chase after him at that time. Jessie gripped the bridge's railing as tears began to come out from her eyes.

Marvin worked far from Jessie. Barely twice a week, this was the only time they had to see each other. For Marvin, it seemed like Jessie was always preoccupied with things, something.

Marvin loved Jessie so much that he sacrificed most things for Jessie. Marvin had always thought that Jessie just couldn't give much not even enough time.

"I don't know how much time do you need from me. We go out, eat out, see a movie, hang out, and be together and happy. Why you still say you need more time when I have given you almost all that I don't even have mine?" Jessie strongly gripped the bridge's railing, now, she sobbed and whined.

We must learn to appreciate a simple act from someone. The moment we neglect to recognize the  simple acts we tend to become totally blind even with the big ones.

yoke

"Dad, can you carry me?"

The father did not hesitate to get the boy on his back up to his nape. The boy's legs were in between the father's head.

"Dad, can you lift me higher?"

The father hastily lifted the boy until the boy had stood on his father's shoulders.

"Am I heavy, Dad?"

"Why did you ask?" the father asked the boy.

"Since I was very young, you have carried me on your shoulders. Now that I am over 9 you still carry me without even shrugging off."

"Since you are my son, I can do as much as I can to make you feel better and keep you unharmed."

God, the Father, carries you no matter how much heavy your yoke is.