A Christmas melody was playing over the radio in a Toronto home in 2019.
Suddenly, my 87-year old mom hummed and then sang along: “Hmmmm. City sidewalks, busy sidewalks dressed in holiday style. In the air, there’s a feeling of Christmas. Children laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile. And on every street corner you’ll hear: Silver bells, silver bells …” Mom’s face was aglow with joy.
It was the most beautiful vocal rendition I have ever heard. I was in awe to see Mommy Belle recall lyrics and sing in impeccable tune and tempo.
The moment was amazing, as it was unbelievable. Mom had been battling with advanced memory loss. Minutes earlier, she called me Chitong, my late father’s nickname, shortly after asking who I was.
Before the Christmas song ended, I joined in. “… Soon it will be Christmas day.”
Although a one-liner, the duet was the first we ever did together.
She looked at me and flashed her best smile. Then she stared far, far away into a seeming nowhere.
The duet was also to be our last.
Eighteen days after Christmas, she calmly passed on and went Home.
Yes, Mommy Belle, soon it will be Christmas Day. You are loved, missed and remembered.
*****
A Christmas melody was playing over the radio in a Mandaluyong home in the early 1960’s.
Brothers Gie, Dennis and I were impishly aligning our voices with the swinging beat of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. Siblings Marib and Sonny were toddlers then; Jing and Pinky, still distant angelic conceptions.
Mommy Belle was preparing dinner when the familiar knock on the door echoed. Dad was home from work.
Daddy Chitong carried a big sack that dangled from his shoulders. He was also firmly holding a huge bag.
He would have looked like Jolly St. Nick, except that he was smaller and thinner, had none of the long fluffy white beard, and was not in a red suit. He came in a taxi, not from a sleigh steered by North Pole reindeers led by red-nosed Rudolph. Even then, the Philippines is a tropical paradise where snow and harsh winters are unheard of.
Just so it is known: My dad was always well-shaved. Washed and combed, each strand of his black hair was held securely in place by Tancho Tique. Perhaps, his clean look was necessary for his job in a milk manufacturing plant. Remember Liberty Milk? But this is another story.
Going back, Dad carefully spread the bag’s and sack’s contents on the floor. They were toys, lots of toys.
I impulsively picked up the red, white and blue tinted toy helicopter and raised it over my head, imagining that I was in it. Of course, its red tiny lights did not sparkle and the plastic rotor blades did not turn. No batteries!
That was the first time in my childhood that a big variety of toys were within my reach. The most of a toy I recall receiving and owning was a pastel-tinted water pistol bought from an ambulant vendor at Plaza Miranda, in front of Quiapo Church in Manila. Mabuti na lang at Christmassy-cold ang panahon nuon, kaya nagkalagnat ako. Nadagdagan tuloy ng Royal Tru-Orange at Fibisco pag-uwi namin. Hindi na masama, ’di ba?
Dad cautioned: “Ingat sa mga laruan. Hindi atin ‘yan.” He then explained that the plant manager assigned him to have the toys wrapped. Santa would distribute them to children during the company’s Christmas party. For whatever reason his boss might have had in mind, Dad’s smiling and friendly countenance and his accommodating personality might have played out in that off-work task.
Anyways, I played with the helicopter until it had to be gift-wrapped. I also prayed hard that Santa would soon hand it over to me.
Come the Yule party, I recall going home with a pout but glad. It was disappointing to get a doll from Santa, but I was equally happy because I could give it to my baby sister and it did not require costly Eveready batteries.
Today, I have to paraphrase one of my father’s advises: “Work hard for what is wanted; spend for what is needed; enjoy what is lived for.”
I know. Soon it will always be Christmas Day.
*****
A Christmas song was playing loudly in the lobby of Notre Dame University’s science building in 1974. Members of the university’s College-Y (as in YMCA) were having a blast during a Christmas get-together.
For the record: That same building and its adjoining auditorium caught fire and collapsed at the height of the Intensity 8 earthquake-tsunami that hit Cotabato City and the environs of Moro Gulf in southern Philippines on August 17, 1976. Yes, this is another story.
Moving on to the College-Y Christmas narrative, from a portable radio-cassette recorder came Michael Jackson’s Give Love On Christmas Day that provided the back-up music for the gift-giving part of the program.
My secret Kris Kringle was one of the priest-advisers of the College-Y.
Earlier, my parents sent me a brown collared shirt for a Christmas gift. I thought the shirt would perfectly fit Fr. Kris Kringle, who helped me so much when I was in the seminary.
When I handed it, he said: “I am fortunate to have enough to live by. Remember Deus providebit?”
He added: “You would need this more. Thank you. Maligayang Pasko.”
Then he pointed to the radio-cassette recorder and joined MJ: “No greater gift is there than love.”
I had no words, only a tear that rolled down my face.
Then, out of the blue, my heart longed for Mommy Belle and Daddy Chitong, especially at a time when soon, it would be Christmas Day.
*****
Christmas classics filled the air inside the basketball court and all-purpose stage of Sarmiento Industries, Inc. (SII) in Barangay Sarmiento, Parang, Maguindanao in 1979.
The hardcourt and the rafters were packed. The whole village was there.
For about an hour, the locally renowned SII Band and members of the SII administrative staff presented a stage adaptation of Anita Kerr Singers’ 1972 album A Christmas Story: The Angel in the Faded Blue Jeans.
Then the company’s Training and Human Resource Development Assistant, I had the honour and the privilege to work with men and women who had the nerve and the talent to perform for their co-workers, friends and neighbours. We spent long after-hours to practice in company cottages. The songs and the choreography had to be perfect, or at least near such.
So heart warming it was when the audience joined the cast in singing familiar Christmas songs and thereafter applauding every one after each carol. The audience was either festive or solemn, depending on the Christmas tune.
In a segment of the show, I belted out O Holy Night. To this day, I still wonder how I got through it. But it may yet be the greatest performance of my life.
Whatever, the whole show reaffirmed the hard work, loyalty, resilience and unity of SII employees and their families who made Barangay Sarmiento their home and SII their corporate partner, despite the economic challenges the company faced that year.
Moreover, they got into the spirit of Christmas and believed in the Reason for the season.
Everybody knew that soon, it would be Christmas Day.
*****
Do you hear a Christmas carol playing from where you are?
Remember, soon it will be Christmas Day. #####
CAPTION for both pictures:
The author plays the “angel in the faded blue jeans” in the 1979 stage adaptation of Anita Kerr’s A Christmas Story and joins the cast, composed of then employees of Sarmiento Industries, Inc. in Parang, Maguindanao. “Fall on your knees, o’ hear the angels’ voices. O’ night divine. O’ night when Christ was born. O’ holy night.” Soon it will be Christmas Day!
Picture # 1
Picture # 2
