quiet christmas

"Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you."  

Perhaps this is a very untimely message for me during my "partyless"
birthday and christmas."House arrest" for me since i was diagnosed to have
pneumonia. I have to forego several parties as i recuperate from said illness. 

On my birthday, i just stayed home updating my blog and watching DVDs. It very different from my previous birthday celebrations like when i held my "themed parties"in a spa, art galllery, garden, jazz bar etc. I likewise failed to  travel this year to the seminary of my brother priest, Fr. Stephen, in Laguna where i usually bring lunch to the seminarians after my brother celebrates my birthday mass. FYI, i am now a benefactor of almost 40 seminarians. Every month i buy personal items for them 40 toothpaste, 40 soaps, 40 alcohols etc.

I

 

In my recent birthday blog, i underscored that one's 40th birthday welcomes you into the beautiful "middle age." as eighty is known as the expected life expectancy of a person, generally speaking.  This age does not have the casual immaturity of the youth, nor does it have the constant dependency of old age.

 

On christmas day, i visited Manila Memorial Park in Paranaque to visit my parents,  more popularly known as Ponching and Linda. My last christmas with my mother was in 2001 since she died May 17, 2002 while 2002 was for papa since he followed mama in november 2003. After my visit, I attended the mass wherein the gospel said "The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him."

 The last christmas  family reunion of the reyes clan that they attended together  was December 2002 . My Reyes clan seriously practiced the biblical saying "go and multiply" as we were 40 plus cousins. Days after, the Gorecho clan likewise held its first sort of grand reunion in cavite. Duiring this year's traditional gathering of the Reyes Clan, i distributed my personalized gifts showcasing my various froggie designs.

reyes clan 2002 christmas picture

I remember when we were still kids that   it was only during Christmas when the Gorecho kids would have  brand-new clothes . Our Titas would buys  us clothings on an installment basis - one Tita would buy us pants while another took care of the shirts. Never mind the shoes, andyan naman ang Bangkal.Long before ukay-ukay became famous, we were already wearing second hand clothes and shoes, sleeping on beds, sitting on chairs and sofas that papa bought from the secondhand shops in Bangkal. We became the walking models for ukay-ukay

 Unlike my other cousins who received gifts from their ninong and ninang, i sort of envied them for the gifts they open during xmas since i barely knew who are my godparents.Thus, my question at that young age: why  few  gifts to open for me, sometime none at all.

"Life begins at forty." A quiet start for me.