A Very BukBuk Christmas

I learned the truth about Santa when I was about 6 or 7...an older family friend you see. At first I didn't believe her, but eventually I admitted that I was just fooling myself. I never told my mother, nor did she ever do anything that would suggest she knew I knew. So for years to come, in order to alleviate my guilt about knowing, I tried to maintain the image that I believed.

On a seemingly unrelated note, for a few years when I was a kid my parents brought me to a very BukBuk Christmas, though they usually referred to it as The Filipino Party. Because I have an excellent memory, most of the details about these parties are fuzzy and sort of visually paraphrased in my mind, but I do remember wondering how this BukBuk dressed in a Santa suit always knew exactly what to give me when it was time to pass out presents to all the kids in attendance. The last year we went however, I was in my early teens, and feeling way too old for these shenanigans I reluctantly got up to receive my gift. I'm pretty sure my mother was pushing me. It was a necklace. Or something. I can't remember. But I do remember loving it so when I sat back down I said, "thanks mom! It's beautiful!"

After that some of the tags on the boxes under the tree on Christmas morning read from: mom and dad. Others still read from: santa. I half think she was messing with me, half think she was clinging to the hope that I still believed.

This year I'll be at sea floating somewhere among the islands. Will Santa be able to find me?

Maligayang Pasko!