It's the -ber months already and is it me or is Christmas MUCH LONGER in the Philippines than any place in the world? I mean, Christmas season should only be for December but why are we playing Christmas songs when it's not yet December? The recent COVID-19 crisis has really caused a lot of standstills. True, economic activities are slowly returning but most restaurants today are still more open for takeout than dine-in. Others are still working at a skeletal workforce. True, taxes are slowly getting collected again (which is GOOD) but the COVID-19 infection is still there. With the -ber months kicking in then Christmas comes into the head. But it's also time to rethink the "Filipino way" of celebrating Christmas. Thankfully, it's not Christmas every day in the Philippines.
We need to really review a lot of common, irritating habits during the Christmas season. Overspending (such as having lavish parties even when can't afford), asking for pinaskohan from people (rather than waiting for it to be given to them), having noisy parties on Christmas and New Year, asking for extra leniency when it isn't applicable, and not considering the difficulty of their OFW brethren "busy conquering the world" this Christmas season. Now, the recent COVID-19 crisis has caused problems with the economy. I think companies should be allowed the option not to have any Christmas bonuses or even the 13th month pay this year. More importantly, it would be time to really rethink how one could celebrate Christmas this COVID-19 especially when you can't expect it to disappear just because it's Christmas.
I considered about how some people had celebrated their daughters' 18th birthday or got married this COVID-19. Gone are the huge gatherings. Instead, I remembered seeing how a few neighbors had a small gathering or had a pajama debut. Granted, groceries and restaurants are now open so they decided to get good food for a small party in the neighborhood. Marriages today end up with the couple tying the knot and not having a crowd. Instead, they decided to get married and spend their time together. I was thinking that Christmas too can end up with that should you plan to celebrate Christmas this COVID-19. In fact, many Filipinos need to learn to celebrate SIMPLER during the holidays.
The still ongoing community quarantine is there. Groceries are open but under a skeletal workforce. There's still quarantine passes required. Temperatures are still checked. Social distancing is required. That means last-minute Christmas shopping should be discouraged together with not budgeting for Christmas and New Year. People tend to make the excuse that people still have no money until Christmas. Well, that's because a lot of Filipinos just don't learn to save their money. Payday comes and they immediately go on blowouts rather than pay their bills and save the rest. What do you expect when unemployment is rampant and OFW families are only relying on remittances? What do you expect when 4Ps has become the norm and a lot of them are released unconditionally. A lot of Filipinos still have an ongoing Kadamay mentality. Poorer people received their government aid but they just wasted it all. Then what's next? Blame the government AGAIN? Why don't they learn to save the money instead?
What can be done to have that simple celebration for Christmas? PLAN ahead on what you want to do. Don't assume that COVID-19 will magically disappear just because it's Christmas. It's like people who had quarantine debuts planned out. They had some of their simpler birthdays planned out. For those who were able to celebrate their quarantine debuts and birthdays - they can use a similar approach. Even Leni Loud Robredo decided not to have such a huge party for Jillian turning 18. Except that they really need to get things planned out. A lot of rethinking was involved. Just think how home debuts became the norm. It's time to really stop thinking that celebrations need to be lavish. If you're not a king then don't live like a king. That should be the rule of thumb one way or another as one plans to celebrate Christmas with COVID-19 still going on.
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