October 25, 2008

An early Christmas

The minute the 'ber' months come around, Metro Manila begins celebrating Christmas. Malls get dressed up with Christmas trees, lights and ornaments, shops display their Christmas merchandise, and everywhere you go and whatever mode of public transportation you take, cheesy pop Christmas songs blare out from speakers both mono and stereo. Personally, I don't mind the decorations, but I hate the music—and that's all I'll say about it. Anyway, there is something about our early and long Christmas season that I approve of wholeheartedly: the various projects meant to help the poor. Some are short-term, Christmas-only projects. I remember a toy shop which asked its customers to buy one extra toy to give to a child in an orphanage, which the shop would match with another toy of the same value. Then there are the long-term projects which use Christmas to try to raise both awareness and more funds, taking advantage of people's generosity (or guilt) during this season. The Children's Hour falls into the latter category. It is a fund-raising, non-profit organization which is trying to convince corporations, employees and individuals to donate at least one hour of their earnings once a year to help poor Filipino children. Now that's easy enough to do, right? The organization does not have its own projects—it gives grants to other organizations which help children. That makes a lot of sense, if you stop and think about it. The Children's Hour has a special emphasis on education and literacy, though feeding and health programs are also supported. After all, how can a child study when all he can think of is how hungry he is? I hope this box—and many others like it all over the Ayala Malls—gets filled by the end of our Christmas season on January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany.

donation box for The Children's Hour

My sister and her three young daughters are arriving tonight for a one-week visit. Wheeeee! I will still try to post a photo everyday, but I hope you will all understand if I don't get to visit much this week. I want to spend as much time as I can with my four girls. Looks like I'm also celebrating Christmas early this year.

14 comments:

Saretta said...

The extended Christmas season thing drives me nuts! At least in Manila, there are projects to help the poor! Have fun with your sister and nieces, but before you disappear, stop by my blog to pick up an award!

Anonymous said...

Have a ball with family.

I am 74 years old today.

Webradio said...

Verry nice clock with a good explain...
Lovely post today...

See You later !

Layrayski said...

Merry christmas Hilda! I love the post today. I have so much fun photographing the streets I forgot how the little mundane things inside the buildings are worth mentioning also. In my case I saw the same thing at Jollibee. Don't worry about us, we'll await your return hehehehe

Debbie Courson Smith said...

Enjoy your guests Hilda.

marley said...

Its strange round here at the moment, the shops haven't started full on Christmas yet although in the past they would be well under way. Perhaps they finally realised that shoppers don't want it so early.

I'm glad to see projects to help people at christmas, we only have a few. They are normally organised by the local radio stations.

Enjoy your week! Sounds like you are going to have fun! Your right, we are off somewhere. London for a few days :)

Laurie Allee said...

What a wonderful idea -- The Children's Hour.

Have a beautiful time with your four girls!

Hope said...

Have so much fun with your sister and her 3 daughters! Enjoy this precious time with your family!

Unknown said...

Viva 'Children's Hour'!!! Glad it's not a Christmas-only project!
There are things that really make me angry and the we-have-to-be-good-at-Xmas feeling is one of them. People in need live 365 days a year like the rest of us.

escape said...

hi hilda, im really inspired people like you who find helping others to be something important. i believe our country needs a lot like you.

thanks to those companies who initiates such projects!

Petrea Burchard said...

Hi Hilda, Merry Christmas!
I haven't been by in a long time, and I noticed you've been getting a lot of awards lately, so I wanted to stop by and say hello and congratulations. Have a great time with your relatives!

JaamZIN said...

its really early:) We havent started it yet.

Hilda I gave you a BFF Award..you can see it on www.budapestdailyphoto.com:)

Olivier said...

Noël (avant l'heure quand même) doit nous faire penser a tout le monde, et chaque initiative pour rendre heureux les enfants est magnifiques.
bravo

Christmas (before the time anyway) should make us think of everyone, and every initiative to make children happy is beautiful.
bravo

Halcyon said...

Enjoy the visit! Take some photos. :)