A happy Christmas memory

It is Christmas Day. For the second year, our paternal clan will not be holding its traditional reunion. It's partly COVID, but mostly on the request of my other cousins who want to spend the day with relatives on the in-law side. Instead, we will get together on December 30. It will not be the same. Because? Because it is not Christmas Day.

And while there is no shindig, there is a memory that lingers in my mind. It is a happy one. And God knows I sure could use one. Of course, it is something about my father. Or what he used to do when the clan is all together on Christmas Day.

Other than the food, one of the things we look forward to when we get together is the giving away of cash gifts. It's usually the elders - my dad and his siblings - who did that.

One uncle, who died quite young, had the tradition continued by his son. While another uncle is more generous (he would give away 100 peso-bills based on your age, so there was obviously a cut-off!) and there would be a long line before him.

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Who gets to line up? The kids mostly. So when we were younger, we'd be standing in line, too. Just for fun, even when we all had jobs and earned a living. We'd get 500 pesos from him.

What makes all this fun is not so much the amount you got, but the lining up, the needling and ribbing, the sneaky ones who after getting their share would go back to the end of the line. Yes, some get away with it because my uncle would sometimes forget!

But really, what the kids looked forward to, and by kids I mean grandkids of the elders, was my Dad's cash giveaway. Like I said, it wasn't the amount per se that everyone enjoyed but how to get it.

See, at the start of the year, my father would collect 5- and 10-peso coins and keep them in a big jar. Each time he got those coins, they would end up in his Christmas jar. He'd collect until December 24, and then we, his kids, and grandkids later, would be tasked to count how much he was able to accumulate in that period.

I had to ask my niece, because it was she and her two brothers who've been doing the counting in the last years prior to Dad's passing. She said it was a low of 3,000 pesos to a high of 6,000 pesos. That's a lot!

So, once the coins have been counted, they go into a container that we lug to wherever the party is being held. When it is my Dad's turn to give away cash to the grandkids (only), he would have them line up - smallest to biggest - and when it was your turn, you had to dig in and take as much coins as your two hands can hold! But that's it. No second try.

So, of course the parents (usually dads) of the tiny ones would do it for their kids and grab one handful to howls of protest by other parents whose kids can get coins on their own. UNFAIR! Hahaha!

The older and bigger the kids got, the more they naturally took as their cash prize. If there are still coins after everyone has had their turn, a round two can start, but this time, only the kids able to get coins by themselves can participate. And usually, since the coins are running out, it is the smaller ones who get to clean out Lolo's container.

After Dig for Coins game is over, everyone sits down and counts their loot. You really can't tell who will get more because sometimes a kid with a bigger hand gets mostly the 5-peso coins, while a smaller kid would be lucky and bring out more 10-peso coins.

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I think there are 20 kids who partake of those coins, so the take-home for some can be quite substantial. And they love it! They might have received a few hundreds from generous uncle, but there is so much more fun earning their keep, so to speak.

The tiny chubby hands don't get as much as those with big hands and long fingers. I remember one nephew, who's quite competitive, dunked both his hands at the same time and amassed a mountain of coins, which he successfully balanced and brought out of the container into a bag.

Of course there were shouts of protest. But always in good fun. And whether we admit it or not, kids really much prefer coins than paper money because they jangle in the pocket, although the bigger ones can be quite heavy.

So, I am fairly certain the nephews and nieces miss this cash giveaway of my Dad. And with only my aunt living, they don't quite enjoy lining up before uncles or aunts for the cash giveaways. And I totally understand why...

I am not sure if we'd still get to hold this annual Christmas reunion. People seem to have places to go, or would rather be, and it's no longer fun when the whole clan is there on December 25. When traditions are no longer observed or honored, there is a pinch in your heart that makes you melancholy.

I wonder how my grandmother feels with this happening... she'd be mighty upset too. After all, it was a tradition she started and wanted to go on... But life happens, and people's priorities change.

Anyway, a blessed day to everyone whether you are enjoying Christmas and having a blast, or just ruminating the day away...