Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Christmas is a two-edged sword


THE HOLIDAYS work both ways.

I did a lot of thinking about the coming Christmas and New Year while staying at home with the kids. (And when you're left alone with the kids, you get to think about lot of things). And I'm convinced Holidays make you happy only if you're already happy. When you feel miserable, they only make things worse.

Think about it. It's like having a drink. After a few bottles, it's either you feel bliss, or crap. One makes you feel even better, the other makes you cross to the dark side.

Lt. Dan explained it without saying a word in Forrest Gump. When in the din of New Year's Eve revelry at a bar filled with merry-makers, he sat there frozen – tinsel and confetti trapped in his hair – and remembered that he's still a forgotten soldier who lost his feet in the war.

Well my sad theory has nothing to do with what I'm writing now, except that it also concerns the Holidays.

In the process of this year's gift-giving chores, Vangie informed me that I have a grand total of 32 godchildren. Quite a feat, if you ask me, though I know someone from office who has more than 50 of them.

I have 13 girls and 19 boys. The oldest two are already 18 years old. I was their age when they were baptized. The youngest is three. That means nobody asked me to become their kid's ninong for the past three years. I still don't have wedding godchildren.

Vangie has about the same number of godchildren as mine (we are both ninong and ninang to one boy whose mother we helped rushed to the hospital to give birth to him). She keeps track of the children's ages, but even then things get mixed up once in a while.

One particular year, I inadvertently gifted a god-son kiddie basketball goal with plastic ball. Turned out he's already in his teens by then.

Then only a few years ago, I gave one of my god-sons pink, embroidered cheong-sam. It's because I didn't ask the boys' parents – who are our officemates – what's their kids' gender and instead asked a fellow ninong who also didn't attend the baptism.

Like the past few Holidays, we have prepared our Holiday attire this year. We have started a small family tradition to wear identical shirts on either Christmas or New Year. It's not as expensive as our previous get-ups, but something I expect to draw attention no less. Because it has our picture emblazoned on its front.

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