The moment September enters the atmosphere and Christmas carols start playing in Philippine malls, I’m always like, “Don’t worry, Mall, here’s my Christmas list, and I’m shopping right now.” Because that’s how I treat those carols: they’re meant to remind the Pinoy to shop till he drops.
So it’s a given that even a Jose Mari Chan carol is not my favorite.
But there’s a song of his that I do like, and it’s this: “Fancy meeting you alone in the crowd / Couldn’t help but notice your smile / While everybody else around us is going about / Can we just stop and talk awhile?”
That’s how a friendship begins, right?
I remember in February 2024, when I finally enrolled at an uptown gym, I was resting for a minute between sets. My sister, Joan, was undergoing medical treatment at the hospital, and I was staring into space, thinking about her. Then, someone approached me and asked, “Okay ra ka?” That brought me out of my reverie. The person behind that question has been my confidante ever since, and I am, and will always be, deeply grateful.
In the TV series “Will & Grace,” Will Truman (Eric McCormack) is gay. In one episode, a man at the gym lies to Will about why he has been avoiding him. Before the lies can escalate, Will cuts him off: “No, don’t. Don’t. Don’t do that. Don’t lie. Not here. This is a gym. This is gay church.”
Well, the gym is not exactly “gay church.” It’s just kind of a church—a sanctuary. If not for the gym and my low-carb diet, I don’t know how I would have survived the worst.
So, I find myself asking this question each time I’m tempted by a single bite of carbs: “Carbs or gym?” If I give in, it means dealing with side effects and missing the gym all over again. I have already missed two months this year—one due to a relentless cold and cough, and another to recuperate from hypertension. Combined with additional rest days forced by high blood pressure, I no longer have the energy to cope with more gym absences. Enough already.
This Christmas will definitely be carb-free for me. I mean, does anyone still eat fruitcake, anyway? Whew. I’ll watch family and friends feast on carbs while I happily munch on lechon. Boring, eh?
For me, the perfect Noche Buena and Media Noche would feature this yummiest buffet: lechon and dinuguan from CoyCoy’s Lechon Atbp.; Fat Chef’s sizzling beef sinigang, grilled beef kaldereta, beef kare-kare, and crispy pata; Sentro 1850’s beef tendon; the beef steak and potato salad from Fablues; baked goodies from MiMo Cafe; Coach Jowen Racines’s Basque cheesecake; and bottles of Martini Asti.
That buffet will still feature carbs, of course, because I’m the only carnivore in this corner of the world.
But what truly matters on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve is not the food—it is the people you are with at that moment. Cherish, treasure, and love them to the absolute fullest.
After all, love is what Christmas is all about. It serves as a beautiful reminder that family will always be there for us, literally and figuratively, through thick and thin
