Wednesday, December 29, 2004

My Christmas Message to my Friends

It's Christmas time alright! Ever felt like it seems somebody else's big holiday and you are just a spectator? Well, I kinda feel that sometimes. In the houses around, dancing lights are lit both inside and out in the front gardens. Underneath the overly decorated Christmas trees are gaily wrapped gifts, altogether worth whatever extra money was left after overstocking the pantries and refs with ham and queso de bola and other sinfully delicious fruitcakes and goodies to feed the would be guests, the malls are busy, and the streets are ever crowded with frantic shoppers, and endlessly trimmed with rows and rows of lanterns and bells, and wreaths, and always, they glittered! I see all these as you see them. Christmas carollers can't be stopped by the confused barking of guard dogs, askals or with breeds! The spirit is so filled with fanciful things, and only a few really manage to insert the figure of the true Celebrant, whose birth and selfless giving is the true reason for the season.


(Did I hear you say "Bah humbug!?")


Anyway, happy holidays to everyone and may the you all have a blessed one, free from man's self-imposed ostentatiousness. Just you and the silence of the early morning when all your kids, and yes, your extended family, are back in their beds and your noche buena is over and the early morning darkness brings with it the world's collective hush for a distant event so magnificent that we humans have not really found a proper way to celebrate it. Bask in its wonder, be still in its joy, just sit there and be in awe. And then have a Merry Christmas!

Love, sincerely,

Bing

BING L. HERNANDO slept soundly at 12/29/2004 01:54:00 PM