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darth_stitchIt's going to be a pretty grim Christmas for us and it's taking everything I've got not to snarl, "BAH HUMBUG!"
The fact that this will be our first Christmas without my Dad there, cheerfully booming, "And the next number of the program....!" (meaning, he'd like to get to the present opening because he enjoys seeing all the little cousins go nuts over their prezzies) kinda says everything.
Business is NOT doing well, what with late-paying customers AND that damn Expanded Value Added Tax (EVAT) Law that the government has now imposed. For the very first time, money is so short in the household that we've only got enough for necessities. Not to mention the unexpected expenses that keep popping up, like essential things that need to be repaired or replaced.
But you know what? The three of us in the family wouldn't have given a flying rat's patootie for all that and we'd be perfectly happy to sit down to a Christmas dinner made via our househelp's "hit-or-miss" culinary skills as long as my Daddy was still alive and we were all together. Forget the bloody Christmas tree, the presents, the new clothes, the food and all that. It would have been the best Christmas of all, if my Dad had come out of the hospital alive and well and we'd be dragging him off to attend Christmas Mass with us in thanksgiving.
So I'm rooting out all my old books - especially the children's ones that I still find myself buying on occasion and reading and sorting them to see if I can at least manage to give my young cousins something for Christmas. Thank God that nearly all of them are now old enough to go to school and are old enough to definitely read and appreciate the things. And there's always enough money for fruit and candies and sweet things so that none of my cousins will go home empty-handed should they choose to visit us this Christmas, which is their usual wont.
My beloved Mommy Duck is still here and so's my Eggling and we're still alive and well and healthy as could be so I'm counting the blessings we still have - plus we've got a Daddy Angel in heaven, no matter how much we miss him. There's still Jane, our faithful househelp, even if her cooking can rival Akane Tendo's at times and our cats, especially the new kitty, FC, who seems to think that she should walk on her hind legs like a human being, instead of all fours like any self-respecting feline would.
I keep thinking of that guy in Quezon Province who lost all his possessions and his house was flooded out and he could still grin and hang a dilapidated parol on his door and dance and sing "Merry Christmas" because none of his family died in the storm and floods that hit us, a scant few days before the rest of Asia got hit by the tsunami. He knew what Christmas was really all about.
So, no "Bah Humbug" for me. And hey, the first Christmas was celebrated in a stable and all it needed was a family to make it special.
Merry Christmas. And a Happy New Year!
The fact that this will be our first Christmas without my Dad there, cheerfully booming, "And the next number of the program....!" (meaning, he'd like to get to the present opening because he enjoys seeing all the little cousins go nuts over their prezzies) kinda says everything.
Business is NOT doing well, what with late-paying customers AND that damn Expanded Value Added Tax (EVAT) Law that the government has now imposed. For the very first time, money is so short in the household that we've only got enough for necessities. Not to mention the unexpected expenses that keep popping up, like essential things that need to be repaired or replaced.
But you know what? The three of us in the family wouldn't have given a flying rat's patootie for all that and we'd be perfectly happy to sit down to a Christmas dinner made via our househelp's "hit-or-miss" culinary skills as long as my Daddy was still alive and we were all together. Forget the bloody Christmas tree, the presents, the new clothes, the food and all that. It would have been the best Christmas of all, if my Dad had come out of the hospital alive and well and we'd be dragging him off to attend Christmas Mass with us in thanksgiving.
So I'm rooting out all my old books - especially the children's ones that I still find myself buying on occasion and reading and sorting them to see if I can at least manage to give my young cousins something for Christmas. Thank God that nearly all of them are now old enough to go to school and are old enough to definitely read and appreciate the things. And there's always enough money for fruit and candies and sweet things so that none of my cousins will go home empty-handed should they choose to visit us this Christmas, which is their usual wont.
My beloved Mommy Duck is still here and so's my Eggling and we're still alive and well and healthy as could be so I'm counting the blessings we still have - plus we've got a Daddy Angel in heaven, no matter how much we miss him. There's still Jane, our faithful househelp, even if her cooking can rival Akane Tendo's at times and our cats, especially the new kitty, FC, who seems to think that she should walk on her hind legs like a human being, instead of all fours like any self-respecting feline would.
I keep thinking of that guy in Quezon Province who lost all his possessions and his house was flooded out and he could still grin and hang a dilapidated parol on his door and dance and sing "Merry Christmas" because none of his family died in the storm and floods that hit us, a scant few days before the rest of Asia got hit by the tsunami. He knew what Christmas was really all about.
So, no "Bah Humbug" for me. And hey, the first Christmas was celebrated in a stable and all it needed was a family to make it special.
Merry Christmas. And a Happy New Year!
