Maintaining myself to write has been a trivial battle. I have all the time in the world, but laziness always has its way of infecting me a substantial amount of sleep virus. Ideas spring out wildly, and it’s just a matter of jotting down my thoughts. But my bed has its way of tying me down, and lulling me back to the realm of intangibility. But I’m not one to complain. It’s a predicament I want to be more often. Sleep. Nothing in mind. Unharmed by pressure. And sleep more.

Sleep is essential. And I could never stress its essentiality in any way I can. No hyperbole can exaggerate how much we, as a specie, NEEDS sleep. Even capitalizing the word need fails in effort. We should at maximum, have 8 hours of sleep a day. Although it’s ideal, it’s commensurate. The world has quickened its pace. What it’s after, no one in one’s rational, logical, and scientific mind can ever know. It’s beyond everyone, simply put. It seems that everyone is in a congenital race. It is as if, we are born to make haste of everything. Slowing down is a deadly plight, and once you decrease your pace, life gets more ahead. We no longer have our own time. It’s been devoured by schedules, to-do’s, and deadlines. I’m not against any of those, nor am I starting a rebellion. They’re in and of itself significant in one’s life. Without those, we wouldn’t be pushed to finish what we have to finish, or start what we have been longing for to start. I’m just hoping we gain back our control, and reacquire the driver seat. We can’t control time, but we can always moderate our pace.

On another note, I always like countdowns. It gives you something to anticipate in a world where waiting for something is commonplace. It excites you as the number draws close to naught. Zero has never been embellished quite worthily as it should during countdowns. And when the calendar starts rhyming, it’s automatic to imagine Christmas. I for one don’t believe in Christmas as the exact date of Jesus’ birth. It’s not exact, nor will it ever be if ever they decide to change it to some dates other than the traditional. But Christmas for me is beyond that. It has slowly lost its meaning, and celebrating it has been bounded by austerity. The economic crisis everybody is experiencing has tightened everybody’s pocket. But Christmas is beyond that.

Before, as far as my memory can be trusted, the atmosphere changes from ordinary to soothing when the –bers announce its coming. Christmas begins early back in the heydays. Christmas was longer, and the anticipation always crunches your abdomen as a day sloughs off the countdown. October, and both the inside and the façade of our house is ornate with sparkly decors and lights coruscate seemingly dancing with a Christmas tune. Both the radio and the television serenade you with joyful Christmas songs, encouraging everyone to feel the spirit of Christmas. But those were the days. And Christmas now has become shorter and shorter. No one’s to blame, not even the custodians of tradition. The tides have changed, and the paradigms have shifted. It’s 64 days before Christmas, and I haven’t caught sight of even a single sparkling ornament in our house. It may only be us, but it is the closest to me that I make the judgments of those distant from me. The radio no longer plays Christmas songs as often as they were before. The countdown’s still there, but it no longer elicits the same anticipation as it did back then. But Christmas is beyond that.

I don’t know if it’s only me, but I do find the melody of Christmas songs soothing. There’s just something hidden in those notes that calms me. Seeing Christmas decors warm me; I feel at ease wherever I am when I see such. The countdowns of today may no longer excite me, but there is still that dormant feeling of wanting to be excited. I don’t know what tamed it, but it’s there. Then I thought that Christmas is none of those things. Not the Christmas decors, not the Christmas songs on radios and tv’s, not the countdowns; none of those. It’s beyond that, and it’s beyond us. Heck! It’s not even the birth of Jesus. It’s beyond that also. And as a Christmas song played, I realized that it is the feeling you get from Christmas itself. The feeling of family, of friendship, of love, of sharing, of forgiving, of peace, of joy, and almost every positive emotion you can think of. Perhaps, even of satisfaction. We forget our problems, and the solution shines through. Everything we need for subsistence is everything we have. Christmas, as it draws close, made me realize that what we need is everything that we have. Christmas may be short, but it has become more intimate for me. It has become an essential part of my year, and will be for the years ahead. It draws near, and a renewed spark of anticipation has been tingling me. Christmas is beyond everything tangible. It lurks in each and every one of us; some dormant, some active. It’s only a day in a year, may we not forget to savor it as it comes. Happy Christmas! =]