“A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking.” – Earl Wilson
For students with lots of requirements, holidays are a blessing. Both students and faculty deserve a break from all-year work, and an opportunity given to us during the holidays. But what exactly do people, specifically CADBE students, do during the holidays?
CADBE President Jazper Recto takes a family-oriented staycation. He spends these days with family, like most Filipinos, leisurely spending time at home while doing chores and playing games. Other times, he travels to Bicol to visit his grandparents, but otherwise, the CADBE president enjoys staying at home during holidays.
An endearing tradition they have during the Christmas season is when they wrap candies to give to children going around and asking for Christmas gifts, or, as Filipinos call it, namamasko. Unlike others, however, he and his family don’t usually eat Noche Buena since Mr. and Mrs. Recto often sleep early. Instead, they make it up in celebration during New Year’s, when their family blasts out loud music.
Similarly, EPSoc Vice President Jerald Custodio also spends his holidays at an easygoing pace, taking this time to breathe from being a student and get in sync with his surroundings. The vice president believes that we should appreciate the moments of solitude that the holidays give us and reflect on the life we want to live. Since his father was an OFW, he and his family tried to make up for the time they didn't celebrate without him. VP Jerald shared that the experience of celebrating is quite new to him for the same reason.
BS ID 2-2 Class President Josh Jader also spends his holidays simply; staying at home with a nice feast and small celebrations are his go-to holiday agenda. The Jader family also has a tradition during the holidays. That is —paying a visit to his grandparents’ grave before Christmas.
“(The) best thing about holidays, aside from getting a break from everything, is spending the last two to three weeks of the year with your beloved ones, (since) time can't be bought by money,” is what the class president said. Filipinos put a lot of value on their families, which is one of the reasons why holidays are important to us.
“Probably the best thing about the holidays is to see how people, despite being strangers to each other, congregate in places such as plazas and parks while having the best time of their lives,” said the EPSoc VP. Truthfully, seeing strangers brightened up by the holiday spirit interacting with each other is a beautiful sight that is rare at any other point of the year.
“It really feels good that we get the chance to move back a little from our drafting tables and lean our chairs down to savor the moment,” said the CADBE President. His words remind us that we should spend our holidays the way we want to.
Whatever people’s definition of a holiday is, what’s important is that we enjoy it and take our well-deserved rest from it.
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