A “NEW NORMAL” HOLIDAY

Christmas Tree 2010

FOR THE second year in a row, I did not display any Christmas ornaments in my house. My kids didn't ask me why. Only once did my nine-year-old daughter, Roseya, mention putting up our old Christmas tree in its usual corner of the living room. It wasn’t a question about why I hadn’t done it; it felt more like a gentle reminder—perhaps even a loving command—for me to obey.

It happened just a week before December, and Roseya clearly thought I had simply forgotten what our family has always loved doing at this time of the year. She missed our holiday traditions: decorating the tree while playing Christmas CDs, with our all-time favorites being Paskong Pinoy and Jose Mari Chan’s iconic holiday album. It used to be a wonderful time of togetherness. She deeply missed looking forward to placing the little star or an angel at the very top of a tree decked out in all its festive finery.

MY PEN PAL

"PEN PAL" might be a strange term for the younger generations who have spent their lives tethered to instant messaging, chat rooms, and social networking sites. To them, the concept seems to belong to a bygone era. After all, why do you need a pen when you can reach old, new, or potential friends with just a click of a mouse?

As the name implies, pen pals are two people—usually from different places and originally complete strangers—who regularly exchange friendly, mostly handwritten letters, alongside physical photographs often bearing corny dedications on the back. These relationships usually reach a major turning point when one person finally travels across the distance to meet the other in person. Sometimes, they fall for each other if physical attraction happens to overpower the emotional intimacy they previously shared on scented stationery. More often, like many friendships in life, the correspondence burns brightly for a short time before fading as life gets busy and responsibilities pile up.

Today, there is an internet version of this phenomenon. It still carries the original premise of remote friends in different parts of the world writing to one another, though it now happens via email or private messages. The "pen" has simply become electronically written communication. There are even dedicated pen pal websites designed for single men and women to connect online and eventually arrange dates. Call me old-fashioned, but despite the absolute dominance of Facebook and Twitter in our social lives, I still prefer the deeply personal touch of traditional letter writing. I truly believe that a person’s real personality shines through most clearly in their own unique penmanship.