FOR THE first time in so many years, I was late in putting up the Christmas decors at home this year. When my Imang Onyang was still alive, she would remind me immediately after our Sept. 10 town fiesta that I had to spruce up the house early and turn it into full Christmas motif before Nov. 1.
“Nung mabye ya i ima kanyan, mengakamwanan na ka,” my eldest sister reminded me in jest more than a week after the barangay elections. I admit I have been busy the past months attending to so many professional commitments and personal concerns that I almost forgot about decorating our house. Long story short, I was able to put up the decors finally three days before November ended. This is not bad at all for some people, but very late and unacceptable by my Imang Onyang’s standards.
While putting the trimmings on the Christmas tree, I couldn’t help but recall those days when my brother and I would follow our sister’s instructions to the letter in order to put up our humble Christmas tree at home. Almost every year we had to look for tree branches that perfectly resembled a Christmas tree. It had to be symmetrical with the right size and height, otherwise it would be rejected by our sister. My brother and I would then immediately go to the “marangle” searching for that ideal tree branch or branches. The search would take hours so can you imagine the joy we felt once we had found our “tree” for the holidays!
Back at home, we would then cut strips of white “papel de Hapon,” with frills on one side and then cover every single part of the branches for a “White Christmas” look. The next step would then to cover plastic balls with colored straws, pin a few sequins and beads using needles and voila! We have our bright and colorful Christmas balls. We would even cover small stones with “palara” – that shiny paper found in cigarette packs – and hang them on our tree. My two other sisters would then bring out old Christmas cards they have received from their friends over the years and hang them as well.
I also vividly recall how one of my sisters excitedly told us that she had learned one new technique to prepare a different type of tree. That year, my brother and I found ourselves soaked in foams and foams of Perla soap, spending what seemed like an eternity to produce “snow” and put this on the tree branches.
At one time, my brother suggested that we come up with a Christmas tree made from yarns. That holiday season, our tree was made up of a circular wooden base with small nails on the edge and a piece of wood at the center covered in Perla foam. My brother would begin by tying one end of the yarn on top of the wooden center then tie it one of the nails on the base, and then repeat the process until the whole structure was covered in yarn.
For one reason or another, this ‘family tradition’ of creating our own Christmas tree went on until I was in college. Some of my siblings were already working during that time but we never found the need to buy the commercially-produced synthetic Christmas trees. It was only when I started working as a private school principal in 2002 that I decided to buy one. Being the sentimental and melodramatic fool that I have always been, I cried buckets of tears when I put up our first Christmas tree in our newly-renovated house. It was our first Christmas in our “new” house, with our Tatang at home after staying in the hospital battling emphysema for almost a decade.
Since then, my mother would decide the motif for the year with red, her favorite color, as the dominant shade. During the week when I started decorating the house, my mother would excitedly watch me and patiently waited until I put the finishing touches on the Christmas tree. And when “the day” had finally arrived, she would then take a bath, wear her “inalmirol na pink daster,” wear the jewelry items my father gave her, fix her hair, put on her makeup and of course, wear her super red “lupistik.” This was the cue for her perfunctory pose beside the tree, and we would all gladly take pictures of her and post them on our social media accounts as if telling our family and friends that Christmas had officially begun in the Yumang household.
Times have indeed changed. We now find ourselves in a highly commercialized and business-oriented Christmas celebration. My only prayer is that as we are overwhelmed by the dazzling sparkle of the various holiday trimmings, may we always find the reason for the season.
