Surviving December

Somehow, things do fall into place. I will survive this. Deadlines will be met or extended, the presents will be found, wrapped and delivered, the nativity scene will be unpacked and enshrined in our new home.

Here it is again, the busiest month of the year. And it’s not only because Christmas is just around the corner and making us manic, shopping for presents for our ever-extending list, and attending an endless stream of parties to celebrate the holidays. The traffic, the crowds in the malls, expensive groceries and dwindling funds, add to the pressures of the season. While these are stressful enough to drive a person up the wall, there are other aggravations not related to Christmas that befall many of us at this time every year.

Actually, these annoyances are avoidable if we just planned the year better, and we had more control over our time. I write about the tendency of government and non-government organizations to schedule a lot of activities in November and December, realizing that the funds they still have must be spent before the end of the year. As December draws near, the notices come in quick succession — a conference here, a meeting there, a workshop in a foreign venue, a book that I’m editing, a paper that must be completed and submitted — all before the week before Christmas when all work stops in our Christmas crazy country.

In short, it’s panic time. And through all this, I am thinking of how to get eight worthy candidates into the Senate next year.

These days, I spend most of my days before my computer, editing manuscripts and meeting deadlines. I only get up to eat my meals and to stretch my back and my typing fingers. By around three pm, I transfer from my computer chair to my butaca and turn on the TV, a perfect combination for a catnap. Then I am back at work until dinnertime. I might give another hour or two to finish a page after dinner, then shower and go to bed.

Oh, may I add, most often, I find myself still in my bed clothes when I go for a shower before retiring for the night. But my mind is so full of facts and figures, and the chores I have left undone, I find it hard to fall asleep at night.

So, one day a week, usually on Wednesdays, I declare it “mental health day” and take off to do something entirely different. Two weeks ago, I spent the day in Antipolo with my sister-in-law, having lunch in one of its trendy restos, and getting acquainted with the artists’ community there. But I flaked out on lunch with friends the next Wednesday when I panicked over an unmet urgent deadline. But last Wednesday, I joined a friend on a road trip to Malvar in Batangas, where we had a lovely provincial lunch of sinigang na salmon sa miso, fried lumpia, adobng manok sa gata, among other yummy dishes, with fresh buko juice from young coconuts harvested nearby. The only reminder of reality was the three hours we spent in traffic on the way home, from the end of the Skyway in Makati to Mandaluyong.

Meanwhile, the observance of Human Rights Day (yesterday, Dec. 10) must remain inviolate in my calendar, and my next two Sundays are spoken for. I still have not started my Christmas shopping, and my house is still bare, with no trace of the coming holidays. I haven’t played Christmas carols on Spotify. And I’m trying not to get too upset with the toxic politics of the day by avoiding watching the news.

Will I ever get everything done before getting to Christmas?

But, as it happens every December, somehow, things do fall into place. I will survive this. Deadlines will be met, or extended by bosses infused with the Christmas spirit. The presents will be found, wrapped and delivered, the nativity scene will be unpacked and enshrined in our new home, and the house and us who live in it, will glow along with the joyous décor reflecting the love and peace of the blessed season. As always, we will welcome the Christ Child at midnight mass and celebrate His coming into our lives at Noche Buena with our loved ones.

For sure, the aggravations will resume, and intensify even. But after having had a peaceful Christmas filled with love and joy, I should be ready for the myriad challenges — way beyond deadlines — of the coming year.