20/20 vision

Netnet Camomot .

AS the Cagayanon savors his share of the fiesta’s lechon, he’s also calculating that ilang tulog na lang, “ber” na, and it’s again time to sing Jose Mari Chan’s Christmas songs:

“Let’s sing Merry Christmas and a happy holiday”; “My idea of a perfect Christmas / Is to spend it with you”; “Sing a song and light up the lights / we need to make this Christmas bright.”

Aargh!

Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve also require lechon, and the earlier it’s ordered, the better, a rule that should be followed, too, for the buffet’s menu unless you’re planning to cook for the Noche Buena and Media Noche.

Since the only thing I can cook is boiled water, which may even dry up if I don’t watch the kettle closely, I always have at least two favorite caterers and restos to order from—one for Christmas Eve, and the other for New Year’s Eve.

Christmas is the season that’s rammed down our throats to ensure each Facebook friend is included in the Christmas list, and the fruitcake is revived again after hibernating inside the fridge since the invention of the refrigerator. Make sure, too, that glee is pasted on our faces for every Christmas-weary Pinoy to see.

Pinas is said to have the longest Christmas season—to infinity and beyond! That’s five months of pretending to possess the Christmas spirit. But the Pinoy will still buy gifts at the last minute, on Dec. 24, preferably right before the exchange gift part of the Christmas Eve celebration, that is, if any store is still open by then.

In case you’ve already forgotten, Christmas is Jesus’ birthday celebration. The cynical and skeptical will, of course, ask, How sure are you? Perhaps Google has the answer.

The gifts should be for Jesus then, and not for us. The believer may offer sacrifices instead but that’s for Lent and not for the merriest season of all.

Christmas has joy written all over it, with not a day of sadness, which can be difficult for those struggling with depression. That’s the other side of Christmas, the one hidden behind the masks a.k.a. the Christmas tree, star lantern, and the Belen. That’s probably the reason, too, for the mindless shopping for gifts, hoping that will awaken the Christmas spirit.

Anyone who’s trying to be true to his New Year’s resolution to lose weight, is now facing another round of a Christmas season when food cravings are excused because it’s Christmas, anyway, and the diet can start again on Jan. 1, 2020.

Yup, it seems like only yesterday when we made a list of our 2019 resolutions, and here we are again, thinking of the next set for 2020. Hopefully, that new year will give us 20/20 vision to see things more clearly, especially if these last few weeks of 2019 have been an endless Realization 101 with neophyte senators who seem to morph from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and vice versa in less than a second, much like Mae (Anne Curtis) and Jekjek, er, Jericho (Marco Gumabao) in “Just a Stranger.”

Christmas may never be the same for Mae, though. Watch the movie to find out why.

Is this too early to prepare a list of resolutions for 2020? Hmmm. If it’s the same as above—same as that of 2019, 2018, 2017, etc.—then, no need to make a new one. Simply change the year to 2020.

A resolution is like a promise kuno—made to be broken. If life is viewed that way, then it will always be a series of broken promises. Thus, the need to show up, to respect other people’s time, and to see things through.

If you have an achievement this year that’s not even in your 2019 resolutions, take note of that for proving life is like President Rody Duterte’s spontaneous and extemporaneous speeches—anything goes.

There’s this saying, “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” That’s a good reminder for one who’s consistent in making resolutions he doesn’t keep.

“Do you hear what I hear?” Nope, I don’t.

“Do you see what I see?” Nope, I don’t.

The Christmas spirit is not here yet.

But the fiesta spirit is. Hang on to those buntings while savoring the aroma of lechon paksiw.