Christmas Away From Home

By Leonides ‘Junby’ Saguisag Jr

Christmas with Filipino friends

Prior to migrating ‘for good,’ I spent my summer vacation, April and May 1997, in the United States, trying to get a feel for life there. It would be a little over a year before I’d finally migrate in June 1998. My reason for emigrating was really more of a ‘going along for the ride’ rather than an outright search for a ‘better life,’ as many other migrants have done. My maternal grandmother was already living in the USA then and had petitioned for my parents to join her. When my parents' petition came through I was a nineteen-year-old college student, finishing third year at Ateneo de Manila University, majoring in Computer Science. The opportunity to be based in Silicon Valley, the heart of the computer industry, was too good to pass up. So when I was granted a Resident Alien visa, the ‘green card,’ I took the chance that God had given me and emigrated a few months after I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in March 1998.

A different life

Helping my niece unwrap present Christmas 2005

Contrary to what many others might say, I never really considered life in the USA to be necessarily better or worse than life in the Philippines. Rather, I just found the way of life there to be quite different; some things were better or easier, but other things I thought were worse or more difficult. The thing I missed most was how we celebrate Christmas back home in the Philippines.

‘I'll be home for Christmas’

Judging by how rapidly booking for flights to the Philippines fills up for December - you need to book months in advance – it’s obvious to me that if there is any time that Filipinos overseas want to fly home, it’s to be with their loved ones for Christmas. Having spent several Christmases in the United States and contrasting it with my memories of how Christmas is celebrated back in the Philippines, I can certainly understand why.

A long time of preparation

‘It's the most wonderful time of the year,’ as the Christmas song title goes. Indeed, for those of us who have had the joy of celebrating Christmas in the Philippines, it truly is a wonderful time. In contrast to the United States, where people only begin to gear up in the last week of November, after Thanksgiving Day, we Filipinos start gearing up for Christmas once we hit the ‘-ber’ months. Once September rolls around we can expect to hear Christmas carols on the radio, which greatly disconcerts my American co-workers when Christmas carols start emanating from my office much earlier in the year than what they are used to, and malls will start decorating their displays with a Christmas theme. It’s not unheard of for people to start their Christmas shopping by this time.

A grand celebration

Filipinos in general enjoy celebrating feasts and fiestas and Christmas is perhaps the grandest feast of them all. Months before Christmas Day colorful parols start going up and in many homes the Christmas trees and the belens are also brought out of storage.  As a child I remember vainly wanting to stay in bed while my parents would wake me up early in the morning to join them in celebrating the Misa de Gallo. Now as a migrant away from home, I long for this and similar traditions like thenoche buena and going caroling with family and friends. Thankfully my relatives, like most Filipino families that migrate to the United States, do their best to bring some of these traditions with them. I believe this just goes to show how the celebration of Christmas is ingrained in the Filipino psyche.

A solemn celebration

Christmas also doesn’t quite feel as solemn in the United States as it does back home. Unlike the Philippines, where the celebration of Christmas is intimately tied to the religious significance of the birth of Jesus Christ, Christmas in the United States feels more like a commercial affair with the focus more on gift-giving and Santa Claus, rather than on the real reason for the season, the great gift of salvation in the form of the birth of our Savior.

Remembering Christmas in the Philippines

 Junby playing Santa at his office Christmas party

When I first celebrated Christmas away from home in December 1998, I was struck by how different it all felt. ‘Where is the Misa de gallo?’ I thought. ‘Where are the puto bungbong and bibingka outside the church? Why is it that none of the decorations bring to mind the birth of Jesus Christ? Why does it all feel so commercial?’ These thoughts continue to haunt me whenever Christmas time comes around here in the United States and I contrast it with my memories of Christmas back home.

Though it has been many years since I last spent Christmas back home, I still look back on celebrations there as some of the best ever. I fondly recall times when I was still a college student staying at the dorm, waking up early so I could play the guitar and sing with the dorm choir for theMisa de gallo and afterwards joining everyone for breakfast. I happily remember many instances of going to Mass on Christmas Eve with my family, our noche buena afterwards, and giving thanks to God for uniting us on the day He came into the world.

The reason for the season

I believe that what I miss most about Christmas back home is that central to our celebration is our always remembering the real reason for the season: it is a time to remember the gift of Jesus Christ, our Savior, born into the world so that He might save us. Christmas is a time to give thanks not just for the gifts that we exchange with each other, but more importantly to give thanks to God for the more important things: the gift of life, the gift of salvation, the gift of our families, our friends, our loved ones, the people He has given to us. Christmas back home reminds me that the season should be a celebration of Love, the Love that we share with one another and with God.

Leonides ‘Junby’ Saguisag Jr is a software engineer by profession. He is currently based in San Jose, California, USA, and may be contacted via email at leonidessaguisagjr@yahoo.co