Christmas in my heart

Christmas is my second most favourite time of the year (next to my birthday, of course!). For me and my family, it’s a time for celebrating the birthday of Christ. It is a season of giving and seeing friends and distant relatives, sharing food around the table and even (when I was younger) playing parlour games.

When I was still living in the Philippines, I know it’s time to start the countdown to Christmas when we hear Jose Mari Chan’s ‘Christmas in our hearts’ being played on the radio on the 1st of September. Yes, you probably have heard of it or must have come across many times on the internet, or have witnessed it yourself when you went on holiday in the Philippines in September: Filipinos start counting down to Christmas on the very first day of September. Some of us (my family included) start putting Christmas decors, start listening to Christmas carols and, in some cases, plan the Christmas menu and gifts.

That is what I love during the so-called ‘ber-months’: we just start feeling the Christmas festive spirit. Various news channels would broadcast different stories about preparations of the lantern festival in Pampanga. Streets, houses and buildings would be adorned with different decorations. Kids (and kids at heart) would start going to houses to sing Christmas carols. You can hear that Christmas songs are played in most houses. Everywhere you just feel the Christmas spirit.

My brothers and I would get our jumpers out as it gets colder during these months (when I say cold, I mean, on average 20 to 25 degrees celsius cold).

As a kid, for me, Christmas was all about receiving presents from Santa. Imagine when you’re between the ages of three to nine (yes, nine, I refused to not believe in Santa until that age), you’re excited to go to sleep, wake up at midnight to have your noche buena and open all those presents under the Christmas tree. I remember telling one of my brothers that we shouldn’t sleep so that we can catch Santa arriving, opening our front door (we didn’t have a chimney so we’d imagined him magically opening our front door), carrying all our gifts and quietly placing them in our living room where our tree is.

For as long as I remember, we would do that: wait patiently until before midnight and eventually falling asleep, only to be woken up by our Mama in time for Noche Buena. We didn’t see him, in the end, as many of you would know (and of course, being the eldest, I was the first one to discover the secret). Still, I made it more exciting for my younger brothers by keeping quiet and kept the tradition going.

Growing up, I got accustomed to Christmas being a time spent with family both immediate and extended. We would either be driving to Mama’s hometown before Christmas (most of the time on the 23rd as it is my grandparents’ anniversary or on the 25th when my parents had no annual leaves. But in any case, it’s usually spent at my grandparents’ house with my aunties, uncles, cousins and sometimes, distant relatives.

I’d always look forward going to Mama’s hometown. Having my grandparents around were a delight. They would give us loads of presents and cash monies. We would go around their neighbourhood, from Lolo Goyong’s house to Lola Feling’s house to Uncle James. You see, my grandma’s siblings’ families live nearby. And for a typical Filipino family during Christmas, when your grandchildren or nieces or nephews come around and pay their respects, the kids would receive gifts or cash monies. I would personally be a few hundreds of pesos richer during those times, from all those house visits. It was indeed a very Merry Christmas for us (myself, my brothers and my cousins).

Noche Buena is also a big thing with our family. When I was a bit younger, my parents and our nannies would prepare the food all night. We would have all sorts of dishes around the dinner table (of course, all of them are my favourites). I would especially look forward to the lechon, different types of chicken recipes, pork barbecues, spaghetti, embutido, fruit salad and bibingkang kanin and all the desserts I could ask for. I wouldn’t usually eat a big meal during dinner on Christmas eve to make sure I have my fill during noche buena. I would sleep feeling so full I would wish I hadn’t eaten so much.

Of course, growing up, I started helping in the kitchen to cook. I would help my Mama prepare the ingredients and she would tirelessly cook dish after dish after dish until midnight. My Papa would sometimes cook too. And when he does, you’d know it’s something really special (sometimes something new).

My maternal side of the family is religious, so Christmas is a very big event for us. Whenever we go to Mama’s hometown before Christmas, we would prepare and go to midnight mass on Christmas eve with Mamang. We would have puto bumbong after and walk to their house. A lot of my relatives would be there too, so any plans for the next day will be shared and everyone would invite everyone.

Apart from all of these traditions, what stood out is that to me Christmas has always been a time spent with family. Regardless of what happens, Christmas day would be spent gathering together either in my grandparents’ house or in my uncle’s house. Each family would bring food and drinks (and gifts) and we would spend the day eating and drinking and singing. When my cousins and I were younger, we would have games where everyone participates, with special prizes from my grandparents or the balikbayans when they come home. Last and my favourite part, of course, is exchanging gifts.

Living in the UK has been a bit more different. There is mulled wine. The temperature is much colder than 20 degrees. Christmas eve is spent with friends. On Christmas day, there would be Christmas dinner with family. Instead of lechon baboy, families would have roast turkey, roast vegetables, Christmas pudding and red wine. People would be wearing crowns around the dinner table, excitedly popping Christmas poppers to reveal a trivia or a joke. Afterwards, there would be card games and then exchanging gifts.

This is the 3rd Christmas away from my family now and it all feels a bit lonely sometimes. Apart from not being able to have the usual Pinoy noche buena, I miss the long hours of catching up with Mama when she’s cooking. I miss watching Christmas movies with my brothers. I miss listening to those who are carolling. I miss being around my own family. I miss the Pinoy festive atmosphere.

It has been lovely experiencing Christmas in the UK. But obviously, it’s an entirely different tradition than what I was used to, and most of the time, it made me even miss home more.