A Personal Christmas Story

My Bro worked part-time at a well-known fast food chain a few years back (waaayyyy back.)  He was saving up for a game console and figured that since he had a lot of time in his hands, getting a short temporary working stint would help him realize his dreams of zapping zombies in his soon-to-be-bought handheld gamer, become a reality sooner.

His temp job covered the entire month of December and as expected a Christmas party for the store's personnel was scheduled to celebrate the festive season.  Like other yuletide celebrations, the usual tradition of monito-monita (secret santa) was also a part of the entertainment. 

Unfortunately, finding himself pressed for time, Bro totally forgot to purchase a gift and decided that his cheap, newly bought Php120 Pugad Baboy book would suffice.

Come the night of the party and everyone was in a festive mood.  Bro shyly handed over his gift to his monito and imagine his surprise when he was met with a huge smile.  Apparently his co-worker was saving up for the exact same book for months now and was pleased as punch that he finally had a copy (without even spending a single peso pa, mind you.)

We come from a family of voracious book readers and spending Php300 to 400 on a single tome was not unheard of in our tight bunch.  Truth be told, I consider a Php120 book a steal, a good find -- in other words cheap.  But here we were faced with the fact that this person was saving up for months just to be able to purchase something we find so... uhmmm... low priced (?).

Hearing the rest of his mala-telenovela (like a soap) tale made us realize just how really hard it was for him to save up.  Parents not working and sick, siblings to care of and help educate.  But regardless of all these, he works hard, keeps a stiff upper lip and believes that their lives will be better someday.

And so my friends, we learned a valuable lesson that one fine December evening.  Whenever you feel the need to complain about the things you don't have, remember the things you do enjoy, smile and give thanks to the real reason for the season -- Jesus Christ.

In this world where we find ourselves looking forward more to Santa's visits than by baby Jesus' birth, stop and take heed.  Do a double take and be grateful for all that you have been given.  It's not about what we think we want.  It's about what we already have.

Happy holidays, my dear friends!

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