The nicest part of celebrating Christ­mas overseas, is the weather. Here in Canada, one can experi­ence the frigid cold and the snow. Back home in the Philippines, we only get to visualize what these two are, via the movies or thru television. As a child, I used to dream of playing in the snow, tast­ing that white powder that I was so sure tasted like candy ( it does not). Afterwards, inside a home that smells of baked goodies, I will drink mugs upon mugs of hot chocolate while keeping warm near the fireplace. Christmas carols play­ing on the radio and gazing at a christmas tree laden with gifts. Which in retrospect, is what I am experiencing now.

The weather alas, is also the worst part when celebrating christmas abroad. While back home, one can just go willy nilly anywhere and everywhere. Here, wintertime means bundling up in several layers of clothing. By the time one gets out and about, chances are, all the fun stuff are over.

I miss going to Church on “simbang gabi” or the nightly mass that starts on Dec. 16 and ends on the 24th of December. In all of lower mainland, I only know of one church that offers the night­ly mass, unfortunately it is way too far from where I live, since migrating to Canada, I haven’t attended any “simbang gabi”. Which is quite sad.

Growing up, I used to ac­company my Mom or my Dad to church, I might not have com­pleted the whole cycle up to Misa de Gallo but I do try to stay awake during the 5:00am mass, well, most of the time anyways. The highlight of my catholic devo­tion was of course, when one of my parents bought me, my fa­vorite bibingka, puto bumbong, suman and other delicacies. Till now, I can still remember the smells of the kakanin as they co-mingle with other odors like the incense that the Priest fans out, the cloying fragrance of candle wax and the emanation that comes out of burning ba­nana leaves over live charcoal. That pressed of warm bodies try­ing to get out of the Church, like fishes swimming in the same di­rection. The voices, like drones of bees, all trying to be heard at the same time. The sense of communal peace, one can feel and share with the rest who braved the early hours of a new day.

Christmas celebration spent back home (Philippines) will al­ways be the best. Trying to make a perfect christmas overseas, we expatriates do our outmost to recreate the ones we expe­rienced growing up. We try to stick to the traditional and the much loved from our memories. With the hopes of imparting them to our children, who in turn we hope, will impart to theirs .

From my family to yours, here’s wishing all, a blessed Christmas 2011.