Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Back to Basics
This, I have to say, is the simplest yet most emotional Christmas ever. It's Christmas minus the expensive gifts, minus the boozin' and crazy parties, minus the all too lavish feast – partly due to financial and time constraints and partly because of the family's desire to celebrate Christ's birth and just being a family. I appreciate the fact that since this Christmas is void of unnecessary materialism; I got to know myself and my family better. Being away from my parents for most of the time, I really just wanted to spend the (winter) holidays with them. (Yes, you got that right. This is the perfect explanation for my absence in the party scene…)
On the other hand, I can't help but notice the lack of sparkle in pretty much everything. I know that almost everyone is experiencing financial strain, but it mustn't stop us from dreaming big and celebrating. What we terribly lack in cash, we can always compensate with our time and thoughtfulness- something I should have told my parents.
You see, my parents (the notorious Mutti and Vatti) are the most hardworking people I know. They always tell me that I should be grateful that I have honest entrepreneurs for parents. I am proud of my parents, but if there ever was a Workaholics' Rehab, I would have checked them in long ago.
My parents are the Baddest Business people ever. They start their transactions from 6 AM and they end at 11 PM. (Don't worry, we don't sell illegal stuff.) And that drives me craaaaaaazzzzzaaaayyyy!!! They work on weekends. They work on holidays (including Lent and Christmas). Everything got worse when they decided to do their business in our house (to be able to supervise their daughter's affairs). They receive phone calls and orders even at around 2 AM, and now we have tons of merch packages all over the house.
It just bums me out that they didn't bother to do anything special this Christmas. We didn't have a real Noche Buena, because we can't afford to eat altogether (since they're always receiving customer orders and talking to dealers). That's not so bad, really. But there's just 3 of us, and yet we can't eat at the same time sitting around a dinner table like other families.
They are the best parents I could ever ask for, but I know things could be better. Sometimes, I can't help but wish they were normal parents who work in offices or schools- at least they won't have to work on holidays and they don't have to do their work at home.
I know they're not just all about the profits. They just happen to be really industrious people who think that sitting around is a waste of time. I appreciate the amount of dedication that they put into our business, but most of the time we don't do things that families are supposed to do together.
Well, right now I am in the living room crammed with packages and gifts for inaanaks. My parents are in their “headquarters” doing inventories while our next door neighbors are doing vocal pyrotechniques (a.k.a. videokefest). Gee, thanks mom and dad for the gifts, but something as simple as a shared dinner would have been just as great.
Here's to a really meaningful Christmas, darlings!
xxmimose
C h i n i k a n i M i m o s e n u n g b a n d a n g 7:14 PM
