Most Memorable Christmas Stories
The Christmas Season has always been one of the most exciting times of the year. It’s about stuffing ourselves with good food, giving and receiving Christmas presents, gathering with our families, and making meaningful memories (not to mention our 13th-month pay, wink wink).
As we look forward to celebrating Christmas with only 25 days left, we are also nostalgic about those one or two Christmas memories that we wish to experience again this year. We took a quick trip down memory lane as our employees shared with us their fond Christmas stories.
Making Christmas memories with our family
“My last memorable Christmas was in grade school when my family was still complete and [we were] not yet busy with life. We had so much fun having our family Christmas party — it was nostalgic to imagine it. Playing with my cousins, [and meeting] our titos and titas [that] would give us gifts or money.”
“My most memorable Christmas story is every time we gather and celebrate in one house. [We] shared our food and had our Manito & Manita where we are so excited to make ‘bunot-bunot’ and will put a whiteboard in one corner where everyone can write their wishlist. During the Christmas Day, our Christmas Tree is overloaded with gifts and was so excited [to know] who their manitos & manitas are and [to receive] their gifts.”
Celebrating Christmas with Friends – Partying our hearts out!
“Most memorable Christmas party was with the group of marketing and IT department, this was in 2019 at Shamrock beach resort. We have shared of foods and contributed any amount for “drinks and sumsuman.” It is a good vibrant resort with lots of people and a good location for the sunset. We barbecued our own pork and bangus with good marinated sauce. The resort also provided a barbecue grill just beside our tent.
We waited for others to arrive at the resort and have lunch together. Others brought good wine and cake, we ate and drank beer to enjoy the moment. We also had fun games, I just forgot the name of those games but everyone enjoyed and laughed.
Also, we got the videoke rented on that resort and sang along while drinking. We stayed overnight at the resort and the others are going home. This is the most memorable Christmas party with the gang before the pandemic happened. I was the one who facilitated the party and everyone enjoyed it.”
Making New Christmas Traditions – Embarking a New Milestone
“The most recent [memorable Christmas story] was last year. I know it was the time of [the] pandemic, but I want to believe that for me, my son, and my husband, it was. We started a Christmas tradition by observing St. Nicholas’ Day.
We gathered some withered leaves and wildflowers then placed them in front of our main door the night before St. Nick’s day. We told our son that St. Nick will drop by our homes that very night and it would be nice to prepare some treats for his horse. When we woke up, our little boy was surprised to find a fruit basket and a letter for the three of us!
In the letter, “St. Nick” wrote [to] us to be proud of our accomplishments and also took note of the things he thinks we need to improve. Basically, it was a letter of affirmations and some gentle reminder[s] of what we can do better next year.
Beginning that day, I taught him [my son] to anticipate or count the days towards Christmas Eve by placing one ‘sigay’ shell going to the path of our Little Belen. On Christmas Day, I placed on the manger the Infant Jesus. My son is still a toddler, [and] he cannot yet recognize dates and holidays so doing these simple activities prepares him for it.”
Most of us experience our best Christmas during our younger years. As we grow older, we notice that there are changes in how we celebrate our Christmas, but that does not mean that it is not as meaningful as before.
Other than gathering with our families, we now enjoy the holidays with our friends and colleagues – making our Christmas memorable by developing stronger friendships. Lastly, some of us, or soon enough most of us will celebrate Christmas by making new traditions as parents, celebrating new milestones of our lives.