My Very Simple Christmas

It's really hard to celebrate Christmas by myself alone. I have no immediate families around to share the spirit of the holidays. Yet for me I made an outlet to celebrate it more memorable and a little bit festive. And I am proud of myself.

It was my 10th year of celebrating Christmas by myself since I moved here in Los Angeles from McAllen, TX. I still remember my happy Christmas celebration with my friends and co-workers when I was in Texas. It still lingers at the back of my mind and is freshly teasing my memory.

I was thinking that since Christmas is a time of giving I came up with a plan to share what I know and what I have to a lot of people. I've been doing some few volunteer works in the past years so I decided to volunteer cooking for some of our homeless brothers and sisters on the cold streets of Los Angeles.

Celebrating Christmas alone is no easy task. So I planned to cook some chicken soup and spaghetti and planned to bring and share it at the homeless shelter in Pico Street near downtown Los Angeles area. I made a booking with the manager there and I was so happy that they allowed me to prepare the dishes I wanted to share and participate on their Christmas day party.

A day before Christmas I was off so I did some shopping for the menu. I was driving to and fro everywhere. It was not an easy task but I enjoyed doing it for I know that I could make people happy on Christmas day. It always uplift me to help somebody. I am a bit emotional about it because I remember when I was little when we don't have nothing to eat on Christmas day.

Growing up like that makes me appreciate the spirit of the holidays by sharing what I have though it's in a small way. I always have the itch to cook so it's a no brainer for me to do it. I always feel good that people always appreciated my work even though it's in a simple way. And my urge to share more is being sparked.

Some people along with me also were there to distribute Christms gifts and participate in the Christmas program. There were a lot of singing, dancing, and eating. Christmas music were blaring loudly on the speakers and it was very festive. The program at the shelter home was a success because of some people who also participated in the activities, gift giving, and meals.

I went home very happy that time and had received a lot of "Thank yous!" and "handshakes and hugs". My heart skipped a million times and I feel so much relieved and fulfilled.

I still remember my parents telling me to always share and give not only on Christmas but in my everyday life. And I appreciated them to have instilled me that kind of value. It was so rewarding and touching.

This year I celebrated my Christmas in a simple way but I know I touched other people's hearts and lives. I always find it self-fulfilling to see people getting happy and enjoy celebrating Christmas even in a small way as possible.

Christmas is not always the time to give but also to make all our days all throughout the year a day of giving and sharing in our own special way. This is how I spent Christmas in a very simple and special yet rewarding way...... by touching other people's lives being a part of my simple Christmas holiday.

The Spirit Of Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner and people were been excited for the holiday preparations. Holidays are always been the busiest day of the year and people are always busy infusing themselves with the spirit of the holiday.

During the holidays people are just busy preparing what to decorate. In order to be festive, people always make sure that they always focus on the essence of the decorations and the lavish foods. Over here in the United States almost every houses were adorned with dancing christmas lights around their houses which looks so fabulous at night time.

At day time, you can see people at the malls trying to search for the perfect gifts for their love ones. There were enticing signs outside mall stores which have lured customers to check and select for what they wanted. It's just been crazy every where.

The gift wrapping was another time consuming job but it's worth it because that's the essence of christmas anyway. The act of giving gifts is the heart of it all. It resembles the acts done by the three magi when they visited the Infant Jesus in Bethlehem. It was very traditional and customary yet touching.

The highlight of it all is the christmas dinner which is really festive. The smell of the holidays were emanating from the foods and meals prepared on the table. It resembles the gathering of the family in front of the table and counting their blessings all through out the year. The christmas dinner is where the whole family gather and reminisce all the happy moments they have every Christmastime.

Christmas is not just all these crazy preparations and festive events but to me it's how you've touch other people's lives, especially those who need help during christmas and make a great difference in their life.

There are homeless people around us, children who are need of beautiful toys, extremely hungry family, lonely people in the nursing homes, and people who were abandoned by their families and needed company. These people are the one's who need all attention during christmas amidst all the hustle and bustle and we should focus our precious attention of making them happy this christmas day.

For this christmas, I really didn't give much time in decorating and preparing but I gave time wrapping gifts for the people I needed to help. I am planning to visit five lonely elderly people in the nursing home and make their christmas a little brighter and merrier on christmas day. I intend to have lunch with them and give them company on that day.

There are five people I needed to visit in the nursing home which really had touched my life a lot while we were doing our clinical rotation there. I just wanted to share my blessings with them although I've been so hard up lately because of my resignation from my hospital job, but it is an apt act to do during this holidays.

And I really missed my parents this holidays so I just share my time with these elderly senior people in the nursing home who were alone and needed company during this time. I couldn't do much more but to just share what I have for this group of people who needed my company during this time. That's the spirit of it anyway.

Christmas is a time to really commemorate how God loves us. So in order to reciprocate with Him, we must show our great love to Him by doing good acts on Christmas Day. Then it will give you a good and nice feeling during christmas time. And to top it all, it will lift up your spirits for helping them.

Touching someone's life on this holiday is a great gift you will give to yourself and to our God Almighty. Give time, give love, and give a good act this Christmas day and your holidays will be the greatest one and be never the same again. Happy holidays everyone!

A Blessing Or A Curse

Well, since I resigned from my hospital job my life was been turned upside down. I don't know if my impulsive behavior to resign last April was been a blessing or a curse.

Ever since I gave up my hospital job it's really not easy to find another one maybe because of the pinch of the recession. It was been a big struggle for me but I was still lucky to keep my teaching job. At least it had helped me maintain my financial stability for a while.

In September, I got hired for an ER job and had been orienting for three months but I was been unfortunate to keep it because of some bossy and nagging people around me who made a bad impression of me and evaluated my probationary period really badly which even made me more skeptical to work in ER because of the high acuity of the patients.

I got axed from my orientation after my probationary period because of the bad and poor evaluation that was made by my preceptor. I am not bitter at her but I still believe that whatever she evaluated me will come back to her and that she will realize that she was wrong. I just can't imagine why people are very biased and condescending to me.

I never know that there are some people who were very biased about my personality maybe because I am a quiet and passive person and at the same time I am openly gay. My inhibitions and my silence were been taken as a disadvantage and I am very sad to have gotten those bad impressions.

After eight months, I am still waiting for some sweet blessings and instant miracles to come despite of my massive online applications online from different hospitals around Los Angeles county. But it seems that luck has been turning it's back from me.

I got some calls but there were no sweet promises from it yet so I opted to maintain my registry job but apparently the job was not that good either. I always called in my schedule every week but to my remote memory I was never been called back yet.

Yet I was so lucky to have kept this teaching job I have at the LVN school which at least had helped me with my financial dilemmas. I still didn't lose my hopes but I'm still a firm believer that there's still a lot in store for me as long as I am patient.

I was once inspired by this fortune cookie sayings I got from a lunch I picked up at the local Chinese restaurant which says "Don't be too hasty, prosperity will soon knock your door." This gave me an enormous inspiration to not give up the fight for finding a new job and had given me strength to stay firm and determined for it.

It was madly gruelling sometimes finding for a decent job and very frustrating as well but that's life. I think this is the comeuppance of my being picky and complaining. And I learned from my past mistakes. I greatly appreciate the importance of a second job now that my financial worries was been clouding my future.

Now I am enjoying my long absence from the hospital job watching Food Network. I learned a lot of techniques in cooking and preparing food and now I am deciding to take culinary courses. Hahaha. That's me if I have nothing to do.

Cooking is my hobby and I wanted to polish it. Hopefully, in the future I can reach my goal to enhance my culinary skills but not right now, now that I have problems when it comes to finances. Well, I have a lot in my mind right now because I have nothing to do during my off period.

I am so lazy doing my chores and my apartment is in a lot of disarray. I never knew that my problems had kept me away from doing things that I needed to do. I have a lot in my mind and I am so tired thinking about them thereby not even doing my regular household chores. In short, I am procrastinating which is one of the classic symptom of depression.

Being out of job is not good and is extremely crazy. It can be a blessing or a curse sometimes and it affects me greatly mentally, psychologically, and physically. I am a disgusting mess and a total wreck right now. I am so confused and very worried about what will happen to me in the following days, weeks, and months.

Hopefully everything will be in good hands right now and I am crossing my fingers that everything will be in order soon, now that the year will eventually end and another year will be coming in. How soon is that? That I don't know but I am a patient man and I am here patiently waiting for it.

It's December Again!

Time flies, it's already December again. Seems that the nippy morning breeze of Autumn had already set in. I can feel the joyous spirit of the holidays every where.

As I drive home on a busy freeway from my clinical class at Long Beach Care Center, I can hear the blaring of the early Christmas carols from the local radio. Christmas spirits were already imminent from the malls and the streets. People of all walks of life were busy doing their early Christmas shopping despite the pinch of the recession.

When I was young in my native country, the Philippines, I remember we celebrate the start of Christmas early October. Christmas music were been heard from the radio that early time of the year. We already made our Christmas lists early and preparation for the Christmas. And the Christmas trees and decorations from the malls were already adorned early part of November. It was always the longest Christmas celebration we always had.

Now that I am in the United States, I still missed those kind of preparation and celebration. Singing Christmas carols with friends from house to house was the lasting memory I missed. The time of being with friends having much fun during Christmas day was priceless. It still linger at the back of my head even though I am far away from my native land.

I missed spending Christmas with my family although we have nothing to prepare. We always have to gather at the living room and talk about our wishes and goals for Christmas on a simple celebration. Sometimes we watch a Christmas movie and my parents tells us stories about St. Nick. That was mesmerizing!

When I came over here I had the time of celebrating Christmas with my new found friends. When I was working in McAllen, TX I remember gathering with my friends during Christmas time bringing potlucks and presents, singing karaoke and enjoying each other's presence. It was hilarious!

Now, when I moved to Los Angeles near my family I remember gathering at my Aunt's house and celebrate Christmas with my cousins exchaging presents and eating good holiday foods. We got time to mingle and talk about each other's life. I missed those!

This year, I think I gonna celebrate Christmas alone. I don't know what to do during that time but one thing for sure I will do is to go to church and attend the mass as well as visit the Infant Jesus and greet Him a happy birthday and thank Him for all the good graces that I had received all through out my life.

December is always a time to be grateful and thankful about the graces we received. And I am always excited every time December comes. I just can't contain my excitement although I missed all those lasting memories that had happened in my life before during those past Christmases I had.

The nippy Christmas morn, the beautiful decorations and adorned Christmas trees at the mall, the colorful twinkling of the Christmas lights outside the yard, the soft enticing music of the Christmas carols, and the wide array of Chriistmas presents under the Christmas trees always herald the coming of the Christmas holidays.

Christmas is always a time of giving not just material things but also of intangible things which can lighten up the spirit of those in need. This Christmas we have to think of those people who need it the most and make their Christmas a memorable one for this is the reason why Jesus came down to earth, to make the whole world be at peace.

I wish a lasting global peace this Christmastime and I hope we could make time to give and make someone happy on Christmas day. Happy Holidays!