Back to December

Fully-booked flights and full houses. Glimmering and twinkling lights along the
streets, brightening up the whole town. That feeling only comes this time around.
Nostalgia fills you up as you watch children caroling along the street with their loud
bands with instruments they made from scratch. Christmas, once again, is coming to
town.
It’s that time of the year again. Busy streets, crowded stores, loud houses.
Grocery shopping every day. Christmas songs on repeat for the next several weeks. I’m
not complaining though, this is the month of happy faces and joyful get-togethers. For
special occasions, I like to bake and sell cakes and pastries to earn money, which I use
to buy gifts for others. I like to think of it as using my own hard-earned money rather than
asking my parents for it. December hasn’t even started and yet I already feel the
exhaustion. But I’m all for it. This is when the time when we are complete. I mean not
“complete” complete considering Ate Abby and Kuya won’t be home with us but still this
is the only time when most of us are together than any other time of the year. This
holiday always takes me back to what once I thought were embarrassing but really kinda
cute memories. For me especially, this is sleep deprivation month. Caroling until 10 at
night and waking up at 2 in the morning to save a seat for myself for the mass. I don’t do
this by myself of course. I have Jamaica to do it with me. By the time Christmas is over,
we will probably get sick of each other. But still, it’s also very rewarding when it’s over.
Finally! It’s Christmas morning. Kind of chaotic to be honest, but is always filled with
affection and laughter. It brings me back to when I woke up in the middle of the night
hearing such noises down the stairs thinking it was Santa Claus leaving my gifts when it
was just my parents wrapping and arranging the gifts under the Christmas Tree. Waking
up the next morning hunting through the gifts and my sock as my face lightened when I
saw a Barbie doll that came with extra dresses for the doll itself thanking Santa Claus for
all he gave me. After all of that, that’s when we go to Nanay’s house to celebrate
Christmas with all our cousins and uncles reuniting once again. I and my cousins have
this thing where we get older but just never wiser, kidding, we have this thing where we
like to roam around the town while the grown-ups drink and talk about lands. JOKING.
We’d always leave the Christmas lights until January.
As I got older, I slowly realized that Christmas is not all about gifts and toys,
but about spending this heart-warming holiday with the people you love. To make
memorable moments that will always remind you of Christmas, and to bring you back to
these cherished memories whenever. And I’ll go back to December all the time.