Calls on Christmas Eve

Krista Garcia

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Calls on Christmas Eve
It’s always much quieter on the other end of the line
 

MANILA, Philippines – Just like many Filipino families, ours comes with a handful of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

Papa and a Tita work in the Middle East, there’s another aunt and an uncle in Canada, and several of lola’s sisters and various extended relatives live in the US. We miss them all year long, but there’s something about Christmas which makes our awareness of it so much more poignant.

Every December 24, The clan usually gathers at my Lola’s house for Christmas Eve dinner. It always unfolds in this manner: 

1.    Prepare noche buena

2.    Attend midnight mass

3.    Usher in Christmas with food and gifts and drinks

4.    Take pictures, open more gifts, eat more food

A little past midnight, my Lola would quietly get up and leave the “party.” In the midst of the flurry of food, gifts, and photo ops, my Lola’s cell phone would ring, and we’d tick off one last item on our annual list of Christmas traditions:

5.    Do a call-a-thon with our overseas relatives

Usually, that midnight call would be my Tita, checking in from the Middle East. Lola usually starts by asking what Tita is doing, even though every year, it’s the same thing: it’s early in the evening there, and she’s just arrived home from work, or else she’s getting ready for a late shift.

Afterward’s Lola’s usual practice is to pass on the phone to all the siblings, then all daughters and sons or the nieces and nephews, until everyone has greeted Tita a “Merry Christmas” and given a 2-minute recap of his/her life. Then the phone returns to Lola, who ends with her usual “ingat ka” or “See you next year” before hanging up. Then she, or my mom, dials anothers number, or waits for another call, and the process repeats for several more cycles, until we’ve connected with all the family members situated across different time zones.

When I was much younger, I’d find these Christmas calls tedious (especially when it would involve having to walk over to the landline phone). I’d wonder, aren’t they celebrating Christmas over there too? Don’t we talk to them every so often anyway?

Later on I realized something: my Lola or Mama would always try their hardest to make their voice heard over the cacophony of noche buena. But it was always much quieter on the other end of the line.

OFWs often remark how, abroad, Christmas is so different from how we celebrate it here. Sure, they would also have parties on Christmas Eve, but it’s usually just dinner, and then they have to go to work on Christmas Day itself. Still, they’d say that the difference is not so much the lights, the holiday, or the food, as it is about being with the whole gang.

In our family, those Christmas Eve calls are important, because – mushy as it may sound – it’s how we try to spend the holiday as a complete family – even if a couple of members are connected via phone or webcam.

With one call, we assure our OFWs that we’re remembering them and wishing that they were here with us. Through the phone line, we disrupt their quiet early evenings or mornings and give them a snippet of the noise and merriment of a Pinoy-style Christmas, even if only for a few minutes.

We like to think that those phone calls are for the OFW’s benefit. But the truth is it’s also for us, the ones who are here at home. When my Lola picks up the phone past midnight, she’s not just expecting to comfort a homesick son or daughter. It’s also my Lola’s own way of trying to fulfill her annual Christmas wish: to have all her kids home again. – Rappler.com

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