Jolly, Stressful Christmas
In between chewing and wolfing down food and sending messages to friends, I try to shake off the dizziness just to finish my post. Christmas came as a blur and I have to echo Gem's sentiments that we didn't get to enjoy and revel in the joyous occasion like before. If not for the extra horrendous traffic and the stressful shopping sprees, I wouldn't have been able to distinguish the difference of Christmas from any other day in my life. Sad but true. It is not as exciting and solemn as it was during my younger years. The holiday is a mere excuse for me to overindulge in desserts and pasta which I couldn't do on ordinary days. May God forgive me, but I am trying to make up for my sins by reflecting on the previous months when I've been a hundred times bitchy.
How did I celebrate Christmas? I spent the week before it by shopping thrice, getting stuck in traffic, bickering with Augy and fighting with San Agustin Liner's squatter of a conductor (I'm sorry, but I can't help not to hate the jerk). I drove myself (and Augy) mad by walking in and out of shops, fitting shoes, drooling over clothes and jerking my head in this and that direction when something catches my fancy. I burn cash like it's a cinch taking calls all night and it's nice treating Sutherland as my second home. I'm 25, single and hell bent on enjoying my life before I tie the knot ( which could be soon. =p)
***
I spent a week sleeping in the office's break room with Jill after our shift because I was not as gutsy as Erika to brave the dark streets and face lurking criminals in the metro. I detested the whole thing except that my teammates are fun to be with and I'm usually too exhausted to complain about my predicament. The whole week went into a roll with us exchanging gifts for our team's Kris Kringle last Friday. I received a jewelry box from Joan with a rose placed beautifully on top of the cover and lace strewn all around the white ceramic. I was thrilled to open it and get a peek at a pair of jade earrings and a long necklace with green and black beads. She was jittery about giving me the gift because she thought I wouldn't find it suitable to my taste. Since she's a bit boyish, she ended up scratching her head when I scribbled 'accessories' on my wishlist. She asked the saleslady to pick out the baubles. I loved them so much that I vowed to wear them on Christmas. I was gracious in accepting the gifts that I knew she took the time out from childrearing and work to buy for me.
The opposite thing happened to Christel. She was dreading the time for us to hand over our gifts because she sensed that our kleptomaniac-psychopath teammate was the one who picked the piece of paper that her name was scribbled on. Terrible indeed because her guess was right. After our supervisor, Ren handed us each a Marks and Spencer paper bag with a bar of melt-in-your-mouth dark chocolate inside, I followed her, Joan and Erika to the washroom where she opened her gift and gasped when she saw a white shapeless blouse that looked as if it was hauled out of a grandmother's ancient 'baul' and a scarf that was too long and thin to be called one. We endured listening to her rant outside the office while our friends were smoking. I ended up leaving the blouse and scarf with Ren when I went up to the break room to sleep.
I missed Jill terribly because she will spend one whole week of shopping and eating in Bangkok with her boyfriend, Jeff and his family. She left that night and I had to sleep by my lonesome. Well, I wasn't really alone because some employees were already stretched out in mattresses when I got there. I shut my eyes as tight as I could so I would doze off right away. Lo and behold! I ended up getting out of there at past six. I was horrified to see the time and Augy's urgent message asking me where I was. I missed Jill more because I wake up on time when she's with me. I scurried out of the office to catch the bus bound for Cavite before dozens of vehicles choke Coastal Road and I waste half the Saturday morning staring out the window into the sea.
***
I didn't get to sleep at all because my mom, Gem and I had to go to SM Dasma for our real Christmas shopping. That meant buying presents for family and friends and not for me. We rode the jeepney because no one among us can drive and my dad was in the office. Gem and I spent the whole time playing fashion police to ease the boredom of a 15-minute ride. We entered the mall anticipating the stress of dodging other people while looking for affordable but great purchases. Gem and I trudged along with me eyeing Maldita from a distance when we saw our mom entering Celine. I retraced my steps and followed her. I saw a beautifully-crafted shoe that screamed at me from the stand. I could see my name written all over it. It was exquisite and I knew it was made for me. I picked it up and squealed when I saw that it was so cheap. I could barely contain my excitement as I handed two shoes into my mom's hands and asked her to get them in my size while I run to the nearest ATM machine to withdraw cash. We were supposed to buy things for other people, but temptation got the best of me. I was close to tearing my hair in frustration at the long queue that welcomed me. Gem and I spent the whole time entertaining ourselves by looking at the others who were waiting for their turns.
I sprinted to the store as fast as I could with Gem hot on my heels. I even made the mistake of going into the direction of the door where the guys were being inspected before entering the establishment. The guard pointed me to where my kind is supposed to pass through. I didn't even blush at the embarrassing blunder since I knew that two pairs of lovely shoes were waiting for me. Unfortunately, they didn't have the peep-toe sandals that I want in my size. I was left with the first pair that captivated me. The shopping spree was supposed to be for loved ones, but I walked out of there with a long black necklace with gold specks, a black top and a pair of knickers. We bought a gift for my childhood friend in The Body Shop, bottles of lotion for Gem's friends in Scents and Blends, a toy car for my cousin, shirts for my brothers (which cost a lot), a camel-colored bag for Gem (which cost a fortune) and a top for my niece who lives with us. People were starting to crowd inside the mall by lunch. I treated my mom and my brother to lunch at the French Baker.
It was a very exhausting day. I was relieved that I wore my new trainers and not my sandals or else I would have gone home limping. The difficult part was shopping for my brothers because they do not wear anything bought in some cheap stores. Damn. It would have been okay if they were the ones paying for everything. Oh well, it's Christmas so we let them have what they want. A funny thing happened to me while fitting into my brown knickers. My mom headed to Red Ribbon to buy a cake so Gem accompanied me. I wanted him to see if it looked good on me so I pushed at the door. It wouldn't budge. I called out to him nervously because I have this thing about fitting rooms. I pushed it going to his direction. We found out after that it was supposed to be pushed into my direction not his. That explained why it got stuck after I pushed so hard. After paying for it, we met up with our mom and told her about the incident. Gem told me that he was supposed to beg the guy manning the counter to help me. Thank heavens, we figured it out or else we might have looked stupid not knowing how to open a fitting room door. It was fitting room incident number 3 for me.
***
The next day (yesterday), I woke up so early since I slept before nine o'clock the previous night. I didn't even hear my parents and lola arriving from Pasay after delivering poultry and meat because I was so tired. My feet ached from all the walking I did. My mom and lola went to the market to buy some more food for noche buena while my dad went to the office again. I spent the whole day tinkering with my mp3, bugging Gem to fix my blog and sleeping.
My mom called my grandmothers in Antique and I got to talk to my mom's nanay in broken Bisaya. She doesn't talk in Tagalog even around the kids so when Kit had his turn on the phone, I heard him asking my lola to repeat what she said because he couldn't understand some things. I couldn't help but wax sentimental about the holidays spent in Antique when I was a kid and I was left in the care of my maternal grandparents. I remember feasting on suman and other kakanins, hanging a sock and seeing lots of goodies stuffed inside the next day and staring at a Christmas bell made out of papel de japon that my grandparents would hang by the window. I miss the times when my lola would fill the plastic used in making ice candy with food coloring diluted in water and hang them in the branches of our trees in the yard. The sunlight would magically turn them into colorful, sparkling tubes. New Year would be another delightful experience with cannons made of bamboo emitting loud noises. Everything was joyful and uncomplicated then. If it weren't for my parents and for my brothers now, I would want to go back and relieve every single thing.
***
After that afternoon conversation with my lolas, I called my aunt in Montalban to talk to Quincy using my mom's phone. I sat on my parents' bed watching my mom wrap presents and dialed my aunt's number. Sweet Jeoff said hello to me. He sounded cute. My aunt asked Quin to greet me a merry Christmas, but the little bitch refused to talk. I could have sworn she's starting to sound like me at her young age. That little brat. My mom called again while I was sleeping and she talked with her on the phone.
***
With noche buena a few hours away, I retreated to my room after dinner and slept. I woke up to my lola's screechy voice reprimanding me for not taking a bath yet. I grabbed my phone and balked when I saw that it was midnight and I was still wearing my Sesame street shirt and friends have been sending me Christmas messages already. I hastily took a bath, slathered on lotion, dried my hair and changed into my Christmas outfit. My stomach was grumbling because I only ate garlic chicken dipped in ketchup for dinner. My mom told me that she didn't cook the spaghetti noodles yet so I ended up eating a slice of the choco marjolaine cake, a bowl of fruit salad and empanada. My brothers and I took pictures before they went to bed. Kit spent a few hours talking on the phone and I dozed off before six in the morning.
let us eat cake!
taking snapshots in the dark
with the lights twinkling...
just got out of bed...
Kit goofing around
Gem hogging the camera
red and gold motif for the last two years...
***
I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing at eight. My aunt in Palau called to greet us and I sleepily scrambled out of bed to hand the phone to my mom. I haven't slept a wink since then. The whole day was spent eating spaghetti, nibbling on cake and sipping iced tea. The real meal I had was the pasta and half of a sandwich piled with tuna and cheese.
Now, my tummy is aching and I have no clue whether it is from ulcer, hyperacidity or worse, appendicitis (as Gem nonchalantly tells me in an attempt to scare me into letting him play with the computer). So this Christmas will leave me with memories of flabby arms, a reminder that a girl can't have too many shoes, clothes and thingamajigs and an excruciating pain in the tummy.
in my pink pjs sans makeup
*written yesterday, Christmas day
