by Vic Ryan Agot

Created on: August 27, 2009

12:30 AM, just got home. As I was driving the highways of Mandue coming home, I have noticed the gleaming lights of the lanterns hanging at the roadsides. Children cross the streets and chant songs to motorists that don't seem to care about their presence, let alone the songs they sing. And as I switched the TV on when I got home just recently, a program is airing about the seasonal man in red that lives in North Pole, Alaska who gets gazillion of letters each year from kids. And then it finally hit me, it's only few days before Christmas.

If we backtrack a little bit, let's say 13 years, Christmas was so different to me back then. Those were the years I believed Santa Claus did exist and would eventually come to my house to drop gifts god-knows-where because we didn't have a chimney. I and my friends would assemble a group to carol houses every night, right from the very start of December. We didn't care if we had to do it on the same houses each night over and over again until Christmas. There was even a time when we were shoved away because there was a sleeping infant in the house we were singing for.

School is off days before the Holidays and parties are almost every other night. When I say parties, it's not about hanging out in a place with your co-workers on a Friday night and drink like there's no more tomorrow; those Christmas parties are about exchanging gifts, dancing, comical skits, Christmas jingle contest, etc. And when Christmas comes, all of our neighbors would go out of their houses and enjoy each other's company. I'd be with my peers to divide the hard-earned money from our relentless caroling.

When I moved to Cebu to enter the seminary, Christmas had got a little better! DBFC seminarians practiced Christmas songs whenever December would come. This time, Christmas songs were mixed with dance choreography and funny antics, not the typical songs and clanging of cans that I and my friends used to do when we were young. Christmas traditions became more meaningful due to our constant involvement in the church.

Even if scholastic matters drove us crazy, I longed for the day to end and have practice sessions with the gang. I bet most of us longed for the same thing as well. We danced, laughed, and had fun especially when we finally presented them to our benefactors. We wore jeans with lots of pockets to contain the food our stomach could not. We didn't care if we had to wake so early in the morning to attend the dawn masses or still have classes to attend to in the morning. We would go to each of our native place just before December 25 to spend Christmas with our families, bringing the happy memories of how we prepared for it mentally and spiritually.

Years have passed and things have changed; the life I have now entails utmost dedication and sacrifice. I hate it when people comment that working in a callcenter is easy and luxurious; partly yes, maybe not at all. I feel sorry when I see agents working during the Holidays just to make ends meet; keeping the loneliness within for a noble cause. As for me, Kodak Cebu account will go live tonight; this is make or break for Sykes and we are not letting chances. I'll be busier on the coming weeks due to more training.

Sad to say this Christmas will just be passing me by like all the rest of the days. When I was young, I wished to grow up fast; but now, I guess I'd just be looking back with a smile how Christmas had been during my youthful years. So happy to have happy Christmas memories but so sad that they are gone...

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