Going Home During the Christmas Holidays

by Mario Ugalino

Going home to my birthplace of Magsingal during Christmas Holidays, is always the ultimate holiday trip for me! Besides I am able to see my parents, brother, many relatives and friends. Also, there is always the magic awe of the old hometown’s rustic spirit, a very powerful feeling that pumps my spirit, almost impossible to find anywhere else on earth. So hard to gauge and so hard to explain.

The unique feeling I would experience, happens whenever I go home on Christmas time, even though I had only gone home twice during Christmas Holidays since I left the Philippines forty years ago. My first Christmas back at home was in 2009. And the second time was last month.  As they say, there is no place like home! Especially during Holidays. The statement is old but it is also very true.

My trip began in Honolulu on December 7 2010, the 69th Year Anniversary Day of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. It took Philippine Airlines almost 11 hours to take me and the over hundreds passengers with me to Manila. After four hours of waiting at the NAIA for my connections flight to Gabo, PAL flight 227 was finally on its way. Flight 227 was delayed in Manila for an hour because the Gabo Airport was windy and unsafe for an airplane to land during that time.

Despite the situations in Manila, my brother Noling and cousin Espin were already waiting for me at the outside gate of the Gabo airport, smiling broadly and waving at me the same time. They even took my picture which my brother posted on Face Book. They were probably frustrated and hungry waiting for me for a long time.  Espin would say something about PAL later. Espin said what PAL means, Plane Always Late. Lol..I wish in the future that Hawaiian Airlines, PAL’s competitor in Hawaii, for passengers to the Philippines, would have a straight flight from Honolulu to Laoag and Laoag to Honolulu. I wish to experience it during my lifetime.

We then drove the 1 hour plus drive to Magsingal. The road from Gabo to Magsingal was bumpy and dangerous, compared to the roads we have in Hawaii although some Honolulu roads are also bumpy. The highway is unlit and many bicycles and motorbikes not equipped with lights roam the roads, which make them dangerous to drivers. And most of the time, would not be unusual that more than three people would be riding a single bicycle or motorcycle. But this is all part of the mystique of living in the Philippines. The saying goes, only in the Philippines would do such things..

Soon we would  pass the Magsingal Public Market on our left. The market seems like it is undergoing some renovations. They're cementing the surrounding areas of the market and building more concrete boxes for more vendors to use. Few more seconds later, we would pass the Magsingal Church in all its glory.  The front of the Church was decorated with Christmas lights, and Christmas symbols such as a tall Christmas tree and a replica of a manger with baby Jesus, Mother Mary and Joseph. In front of the Church, across the National Highway is the Municipal Hall. Also, The Municipal Hall with its amazing dancing water fountains and beautiful lights were also displayed ala The Bellagio in Las Vegas.  I was then convinced that I was home.  I thought I felt with exultation! I said, “My town, my birthplace, so happy to see you again!

I was so happy to see my parents also that same night. And they were also happy to see me again. My parents are both in their high 80’s and I try also to see them as often as possible whenever I could. The following day, they prepared a Welcome Home party for me. Prepared one of my parents' goats for lunch. A party would not be complete without singing. So they rented a Karaoke machine for two days. Even though I can not sing like my relatives and friends, I sang along with them singing my always favorites “Imagine” and few Bee Gees songs.

 

A few weeks later, Christmas Eve would finally come. Many relatives and their children came by to say Merry Christmas. Some of them I never met before. Children I saw a year before were a lot bigger now. They sang Christmas carols and it was so sweet and great to hear. Christmas in Magsingal is incomparable indeed!

Later on that night, I went to the Midnight Mass which would start at 10pm. I drove to the  Church at 9pm thinking it would be packed and I needed a seat I thought. It is always crowded and packed during Midnight Mass they told me. When I arrived and went inside the Church past 9pm, I thought I made a mistake of going so early because the Church was almost empty. But I took my seat anyway. I picked a seat in the middle, near a fan nailed to one of the many posts of the Church.

Thirty minutes later at 930pm, lo and behold, people would arrive and would occupy all the remaining seats so quickly. Before the Midnight Mass to start, people were standing thus the Church was packed with Magsingalenos. Have not seen that many Magsingalenos in one place. I could feel the warmth of all the people. This is why my heart will always be a Magsingaleno. The Midnight Mass was indeed a Grand Finale of my stay in Magsingal because I would leave eight hours later for Hawaii.

I left Magsingal on Christmas Day and arrived in Honolulu on Christmas Day.. Peace and Aloha to all!