Philippines Xmas Expertise

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Over recent decades the commercial impetus has intensified, with Christmas coming to the shops earlier and earlier, until now it arrives in full frontal mode, as soon as the kids go back to school after the summer holidays.
For those who love Christmas lights and other decor, that's great, but there's another side to the story.


Perhaps the greater problem, though, can be with Christmas gifts.
Often, poorer families cannot afford it, and the financial pressures, fed by the social pressures, mount as Christmas Day nears.
It is little wonder that the days after Christmas are a peak time for family break ups.
Sadly, many will never learn to fully appreciate the acts of giving and receiving gifts.
True generosity cannot be found in such tokens.
Poor families in particular will find the financial pressures strongest, but it may well be that the poorer children will be the more appreciative.
On receiving a top of the range hi-fi system, probably worth about $3000, as a gift, he trashed it a week later, simply because he was bored.


Christmas in the Philippines

Since 2000, all my Christmases have been spent here in the Philippines.
The "poor" of the UK and US would pass as rich in the Philippines.
I have been touched by the generosity of the very poor, having visited many ordinary, spartan homes of the desperately poor.
She had no food in the home, and I knew the family were often short of food and went hungry.
I knew, too, that the family whose food I ate for lunch, was even poorer than that of my friend.


When it comes to the approach to Christmas, Filipinos lap it all up.
As in the UK, the start of September starts the countdown to Christmas Day, in the stores and on TV.
Once I had come to my senses, I realised it was Christmas music.
However, I was wrong.
Now, I realise it is not an individual at all, but coming from a nearby military base.


Despite the proliferation of Christmas advertising, and music, Filipinos do not seem to succumb to any pressure to spend too much money over Christmas.
Yet, people make the most of Christmas in their own way, and it is an important family time.


The combination of Filipino generosity, and lack of expectation of a Christmas gift, led me to write a Christmas story last year.
In a way, the story was a way of encapsulating what I had learnt, and to admit that Western adults can learn an awful lot, even from a Filipino child.
When she finally does receive a gift, one that she knows with certainty came from Santa Claus, she is faced with what most Western children would find as a terrible dilemma.


One thing Filipinos do splash out their sparse cash on is Christmas decorations, especially Christmas lights.
Puerto Princesa, where we live, is already preparing for its Christmas display and events this year.
Poor or not, gifts or not, Christmas has its own tropical magic in the Philippines.