When Jo Mari Chan singles ruled

The air has been cool for sometime now. I noticed I'm shivering every morning when I awake to turn off the fan and heat the water I'm gonna use for bath. I guess that means the Christmas season has finally arrived. Funny thing though, because there seems to be no enthusiasm whatsoever for this year's biggest-along with the New Year celebration-holiday season. No decorations adorn the houses;not even cheap lanterns. At least in the community where I live. But it's limited to what I only get to see. So it's arguable; maybe just an islolated case. But travelling along EDSA spying on as much residential areas as I could, what I see is nothing. As if nobody gives a rat's ass anymore. Even the Jose Mari Chan single that used to annoy me before ("whenever i see boys and girls..."-that line smacks of pedophilic images of an ugly elderly white guy spying on little kids peddling lanterns.)---is lamentably missing in the airwaves.

When I was a young boy I recalled how warm feelings and being excited overwhelmed me every time I felt the first hint of cold air during the first weeks of the 'BER' months. It was like a warm and cozy blanket of contentment and bliss I assume many dope and crack addicts try to replicate, articifially, everytime they shoot up. It was a natural high, thinking about the long holiday from school and generally just being with the family (we have a quasi-family reunion during the holidays) and enjoying the stories of aunts and uncles I only get to see briefly each year. Not to mention the gifts and-my personal favorite-the firecrackers bought for the upcoming new year celebration that you and your friends can have fun with. You can already hear distant bangs in nearby towns and farmlands as early as December 1 back then. But those too, have 
diminished over the years, and was replaced by silence until midnight of January 1st.



I miss the simplicity and contentment of the old days, as well as the child-like anticipation of what the Christmas season will bring. One can argue that the financial state of the people is a major factor for the decline in interest and enthusiasm. Or perhaps the higher standards of what they cannot attain that gives in to frustaration and subsequently, to jadedness and disillusion that makes it almost impossible to even smile and use your sense of humor once in a while. Whoever said that Christmas is for kids probably didn't know how accurate that delaration was. 


I just realized it now but this sentiment has been around forever. Only an adult can degenerate into an empty shell devoid of any real wonder and joy only a child have the privelege of enjoying to the fullest.