CHRISTmas

this christmas. was. different.

every christmas, i'd look forward to the presents, the parties and to meet up with some family members i rarely see. Mostly, i look forward to the food and the decorations and the good company.

at church, i'd have chills when the bells get rung and as the choir belts out the opening hymn at midnight service. i love watching the 100s of catholics all squeezed into a tiny space, the church competely packed and the people overflowing outside the church. they make me realise that i'm part of a bigger family, that we all have something in common.  i loved watching the young alter servers in their fancy grand mass robes, sit up at the alter with their feet dangling from the chairs too short to reach the ground with a look of pride in their faces as they serve the grand christmas mass.

the church looks the same. the old wooden seats felt the same. the people were the same. just older. i haven't attended mass there in a while yet the familiarity of the place makes me feel comfort and flooded with an emotion of being home.

..but somehow everything IS different now.

we're older. wiser. different.

spending christmas with family makes it more beautiful. it's like the one holiday that everyone makes an effort to meet. it's the one occasion we are force to think of each other when we shop for them realising despite being family we don't know anything about each other.

will she like this? is she into sports? how old is he now? what kind of music does he listen to?

we all have seperate lives. were we always like that?
how is it possible that once upon a time, you were a part of someone's everyday yet now, we don't even know them at all?