X-mas Stories

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love the atmosphere of it, and I’m not talking of the weather and the temperature. It seems you can feel everything is different when it’s Christmas. I simply like everything about Christmas. The holiday. The merrymaking. The gift giving (kids like me can’t wait for the mullah… and those younger for the toys). The jubilance. The carols and songs. The religious significance (some kept on pointing out that Christmas is not really the date of Christ’s birth, and that it has paganism in it… sure, I know of the pagan symbols and connotations in Christmas… but the best argument is, let the pagans use the holiday and symbols for their purpose, but let the Christians use Christmas for God’s glory and for goodness, and it does not matter if December 25 is not the exact date of Christ’s birth; we are celebrating the birth of Christ anyway and not the date! The date is insignificant, the birth and the meaning of it are the things important.)
And, of course, I love Christmas stories.

Yes. The Christmas stories. There are a lot of them. From literature and traditions to TV specials and movies.

TV series and cartoons have Christmas specials when it is the holiday season – and those episodes are classics. Like the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Christmas special where all the Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters are together; and the Archie’s Weird Mysteries episode of the Christmas Phantom, who was actually Santa Claus himself, granting Archie’s wish for Christmas. I like to watch such Christmas specials, especially marathons, on TV. They are among the most entertaining shows ever. You get to see episodes that are very different from regular episodes. One example is the Christmas episode of Mr. Bean (the live version, not the cartoons); it was one of the best in the series.

During Christmas season, Christmas cartoons are aired on TV. I found three channels that did this effectively in my childhood. One was HBO, (not only did HBO rock when it comes to cartoons like Spawn and Sin City, but also of its Christmas toons) with cartoons like “Rudolph’s Shining Christmas”, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, and “Frosty the Snowman”. In the local networks, GMA did okay. I enjoyed their airing of several Christmas cartoons every afternoon, and of the cartoon series “Claus”, a cartoon series of a boy Santa Claus. Disney Channel is the third; not only did they air Christmas episodes of their regular set of TV series, but also other Christmas specials and movies.

And how about the movies? Christmas movies had pretty good stories, too. The Home Alone series were all set during the Christmas season, and it showed great Christmas principles as well as the best hilarious (and painful) pranks and booby traps a little boy can do. The Santa Claus movies of Tim Allen were okay, too. And Christmas specials does not only happen to TV shows, but also to movie franchises like “Richie Rich”, “Beauty and the Beast”, and “All Dogs Go to Heaven”; all of them have Christmas movies.

Though, yes, Christmas stories are more effective on TV or movies, let us not forget that it is also present in literature. Since Dickens’ classic “The Christmas Carol”, to Agatha Christie’s “Holiday for Murder”, Christmas has been used an effective theme of a story, or a background even if it is not the main theme. Christmas stories are also in comic books and cartoon strips. “Mickey Mouse and Friends”, “Calvin & Hobbes”, “Peanuts”, “Archie and Friends” and, especially, “B.C.”, are among the many that had created great stories by using Christmas as theme or tool… we find Uncle Scrooge McDuck, unbeknownst to him, treating the entire Duck clan for Christmas; Calvin’s father sacrificing his work so that he can spend time with his son to make a snowman (very Christmas spirit); Charlie Brown’s sister Sally mistaking “reindeer” for “rain gear”, as one of Santa’s trademarks; Archie collecting rare photos of things that can only happen in Christmas, missing a genuine shot of Santa Claus, but getting a shot of Jughead kissing Ethel, a thing that can only happen once in a lifetime; and B.C. and friends, with stories about the true meaning of Christmas, authored by the B.C.’s Christian cartoonist, Johnny Hart… the list goes on a long way of classic stories like these. Even superhero comics and mangas (even anime series have great Christmas episodes), like Yu Yu Hakushu, have great Christmas issues when it is the season.

“Christmas” should be an established genre in fiction. Good is present in the story if Christmas is used – even if it used just as a setting, a tool or a background. Great conflicts, plots and entertainment arise from a story with Christmas in it. Not only are Christmas stories entertaining, but also heartwarming and full of lessons to be learned. Christmas stories create fascinating characters like “Ebenezer Scrooge” to “The Grinch”. In regular continuity of stories, Christmas episodes or issues stray from the regular flow of the story sometimes, but it becomes a classic nonetheless. Like when Yusuke helped a stray spirit, and when psycho vigilante Batman shows compassion and emotion. And it creates unexpected but refreshing twists like in the “Archie’s Weird Mysteries” Christmas episode.
Yes, Christmas stories are certainly among the best stories in the world.

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Christmas stories are special, entertaining and good. But maybe it is so because of the meaning – the true meaning – of Christmas, and the true story behind it all. Though there are a lot of good Christmas stories around, we should not forget the number one Christmas story ever. A true story of the Savior who was born in a manger a long time ago. The world has never been the same since then.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

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SPIDERS

Here is a scenario:
Someone, a female very often, sees a spider. It will take about a second or two for it to register to her that it was a spider. And another second of hesitation to confirm that it was a spider. Then the scream, “Eeeeeeeeee!” It’s so high pitched that it can break glass. “A spider! A hideous spider!” She will then either kill it herself with her shoe, or call someone, a male very often, to kill it for her.

When scenarios like this happen, my sympathy is on the spider. You see, I like spiders; they’re my fave kind of insects (technicaly, they are not really insects). Arachnids. I don’t know where this fondness of mine on spiders started. It might be because Spider-Man is my favorite comicbook character since I was a toddler that I grew fond of spiders, too (and I wondered if being bitten by an irradiated spider really gives you superpowers). Or because like other Filipino boys, I find it fun watching two spiders fight hanging on a stick. Or maybe because I find their webs, and when they make their webs, cool. Or is it because of a children story called “Charlotte’s Web”? I don’t know.

I am not afraid of spiders since I was a baby. Even of the big ones with venoms. And I never kill spiders, nor ever will, just as I won’t kill a cat. They are such interesting and complex creatures… one of God’s bests.

I heard a story of someone who does not know of God in atheist China, I think, what without the help of a preacher nor a Bible began to believe in god when he saw a spider. He cannot comprehend something as complex as a spider making its web exists even if there is no God. So, he concluded that there is God. Spiders, God’s little missionaries.

Fascinating are these God’ creatures that live all over the world, on mountains, in forests, in caves, desserts, and even underwater. Spiders don’t only eat insects, but some kinds also eat small fish and tadpoles. Another interesting thing about spiders I that male spiders are much smaller than females, so the females sometimes mistake males for other insects and gobble them up!

One of the things I like about spiders is they kill mosquitoes. Just as much as I liked spiders is my hate for mosquitoes. That’s why I don’t get rid of webs often, the more webs there are, the better the chance of a mosquito getting captured by a spider and get killed (of course, I have to remove the webs when they are already too thick for the light of the fluorescent bulb to get through). Oh, another cool thing, I saw a spider biting the head off a cockroach, and then sucking its blood… radical.

There is one characteristic in spiders that people should copy. Perseverance. Break their webs and they will only repair them or make another one. They never give up. Just like the spider in the song “itsy bitsy spider”. It continued on its way up the water spout after it was washed down by the rain. We, humans, should also learn to persevere and continue in our way up our “water spouts” even if the “rain” washes us out.
I think the guy who wrote that song likes spiders, too.

So, please, don’t kill a spider when you see one. There are 10,000 different kinds of spiders in the world, and all of them are not worth killing. The little guy is only minding his own business, do likewise. Only kill a spider when it is as huge as the ones in the movie “Eight-Legged Freaks”, you’re a fool if you don’t kill it if you have the chance.

All’s left is finding out if a bite from an irradiated spider really gives you powers like Spider-Man.

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The Admirable British Race

Among all the races in the world, my favorite is the British race… the people of the United Kingdom. They are people of admirable traits, character and history. They are really admirable and fascinating.

Britain was often dominating in terms of military conflicts (their only famous defeat was of the American Revolution). Most of all, they were always the “good guys”. They led Europe against Napoleon, won the Boer War, was prominent in both World Wars, they had beaten the great Spanish Armada (and I think there it all began that became a legendary naval power), the RAF beat Hitler’s “invincible” Luftwaffe… most of all they had conquered half the world.

They used to be the most powerful on Earth, as well as the richest. Those were the days of the mighty British Empire –where “the sun never sets” since the empire stretch out around the world, in all the continents. And with the trade and industry of the entire empire, they became richer, it was the time when one pound is equal to five dollars (now, I think one pound is only equal to about one dollar and ninety-nine cents).

Great leaders like Winston Churchill, Margaret “The Iron Lady” Thatcher, Tony Blair, Queen Victoria and many more. And the stories of their nobility are interesting, too, like of the Georges, the Henrys and the Elizabeths. William Wilberforce was behind slave abolition in the Empire, long before good ol’ Abe Lincoln abolished it in the States. And there are many other British leaders that were admired and made an impact in the world.

Literature was also enriched by the British. Because of the likes of Geoffrey Chaucer (“The Canterbury Tales”), William Shakespeare, Daniel Defoe (“Robinson Crusoe”), C.S. Lewis (“Narnia”), Robert Louis Stevenson (“The Black Arrow”, “Kidnapped!”, “Treasure Island”, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”), H.G. Wells (“The Time Machine”, “The War of the Worlds”), Lewis Caroll (“Alice in Wonderland”), Charles Dickens (“Oliver Twist”, “A Tale of Two Cities”, “A Christmas Carol”), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (“Hound of Baskerville”, “The Lost World”), Agatha Christie, and many many more. The world owes the British for Beowulf, Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, and before I forget, Harry Potter. Britons have beloved and respected authors by the world, but most of all, beloved and respected fictional characters.

Sure, Mozart was from Austria, Bach and Beethoven were German, and Chopin was Polish, but Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Spice Girls were from Britain. See, the British have their achievements in music.

In Science, there were the likes of Isaac Newton and Alexander Fleming. But it is a pity that a man like Charles Darwin was also a British.

The King James Bible is from Britain (commissioned in the reign of, obviously, King James). Men of faith like Charles Spurgeon, William Tyndale, John Newton, C.S. Lewis, John Wesley and many others are British. Maybe God blessed Britain because they are God-centered (though, of course, they are not always so… like all races, even God’s “chosen”, the Jews).

I wonder what would have happened if the British succeeded in conquering the Philippines from the Spaniards, or we mimic them instead of the Americans. Would our country have become better? Would or character became better? Our economy (former British colonies like Hong Kong and Canada are doing great economically)? Filipinos as persons? We will never know.

No. no. I have no regrets of being a Filipino, instead of British. I love my country, and proud to be a Filipino (really). But I just admire the British than Filipinos. They are such great people. Last December 6, I think (or is it 7? Or 8? Or 9?), was the friendship day between the UK and the Philippines. Filipinos and Britons have some things in common like family values, love of merrymaking, and as Filipinos love their merriendas, Britons love their teas. I read and heard stories and observations that Filipinos are not discriminated in the UK (unlike in other countries where Filipinos are treated like dirt). They are such friendly people, like us, Filipinos. But sadly that’s where the similarities end. They have faults of course, but they are superior in many things in character (like they are also superior in other things).
But I wonder if the British also find Filipinos, who are sadly blemished with scandals and infamy, as a great admirable and fascinating race?

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