But the truth is it is just so beautiful.

It is actually worth it to give this part of nature a chance.

And a chance for me to roll on the snow, make a snowman,

finally throw my snowball for revenge, actually learn to ski

by myself & to just embrace the freaking cold.

I have to do it all even once so I am now convinced

to get myself a real snow outfit.

Do you also have noses like tomatoes on a day like this?

In the malls, although there are no christmas songs to set the ambiance even further, a stage is set up with your every christmas imagination while Santa waits for children's wishes & photographs. The shops have those little baskets filled with free papillon chocolate candies & super promos. Extra tables line the entrance of shops to accomodate the gift wrapping demand. It is literally a holiday rush that allows us to get into the spirit about 3 weeks before christmas.

My first christmas in France was not that difficult. I was discovering a lot of new things & to experience the holidays in a different setting excited me. The christmas eve dinner overwhelmed me to no end - France truly exhibits the significance of conviviality in dining & intimacy. Dinner starts at past 8 with the best wines, recipes & cheese. Coffee, hot tea or even digestive liquor are served at past 1am. Gifts are distributed, opened & appreciated. Then you're half digesting in bed at 3 in the morning wondering how you're going to lose those extra pounds when you're about 3 months into the height of winter. But it's just so tempting to have another sliver of foie gras or that homemade dessert. It does only come especially during the holidays. New years are normally spent with friends, champagne & parties. Fireworks are prohibited. Who wants to freeze out in the cold anyway?

The thing is there is nothing like the Filipino christmas. Sure it is the height of total consumerism but putting that aside, there is a certain sensation I couldn't grasp amidst the white christmas of France. After five christmases, I've never put up a tree. Just those simple ornaments for a tinge of christmas decors & it didn't bother me so much. We spent the holidays at our own home only once because I had to work but we normally celebrate it in Belfort with the whole family. Besides, I don't have my mother's knack for house decorations.

As early as September, radios already tease the Filipinos with a little holiday cheer. The malls start setting the christmas spirit & there is literally a change in the air. Sure there are also people who take the opportunity to score brownie points for an early christmas gift or to accumulate them at the end of the year. The Philippines is known to celeberate the holiday season the longest. It is certainly not a christmas rush but rather an ambiance - a spirit I had to understand by being away from this environment I grew up with.

The Simbang Gabi (early morning mass) where we buy puto bumbong for breakfast with the family or breakast at Goodah's with friends. The kris kringle at work & with friends with an imposed gift budget. The many christmas parties to spread the joy. The Filipinos truly exhibit the significance of conviviality in camaraderie.

Our christmas & new year's eve dinner's highlight are the Majestic Ham, sotanghon & my dad's famous 12 grapes - 1 grape for good luck each month. Voices of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby fill our house with christmas cheer. The neighbors you meet at church after the midnight mass. The giving & opening of gifts are always moving because we always choose the gifts we give with significant meanings. And the display of fireworks on new year's eve - more noise the better to push away the incoming bad luck. The holiday season in the Philippines is truly cheerful & animated through the abundance of faith, belief & spirituality.

I will probably get a tree for next christmas. I already bought a compilation of christmas songs. Afterall, the spirit starts at home & maybe, just maybe, I am able to spread the joy.

As the cold spells begun, France is likewise anticipating the thousands of SDF- sans domicile fixe - the homeless people on the streets. Winter is not only a white christmas or that ski holiday & snowman. It is not only wicked to people like me who have heaters or fireplaces to come home to, it is especially spiteful to the people who does not have a home to keep warm. I have to admit that I was at first surprised to see homeless beggars sleeping in the metros of Paris - poverty is universal & it is unimaginable during this season.
In 2004, there are 200,000 homeless people of which 20,000 are children, comprising of people without papers, family problems & employment difficulties. Every winter, hundreds of them die due to the cold with an average age of 47. They die not only of cold & hunger but also of despair. Naturally, we would think that we are always responsible for wherever we are but with our society today, not only the challenges & hardships, but likewise of despair & depression, it is so easy to find oneself in the streets. To be stable & secured these days has reached a new level - it is a generation where everything is disposable.

More & more people recognize it's significance that last year, there were 4 million people served by the "Restaurant de Coeur (restaurant of the heart)." It was founded by a famous comedian, Coluche, who had an ambition to open a restaurant to serve 2 to 3 thousand plates per day, for free. The restaurant is serving every winter for 20 years now. There are other numerous associations with different objectives such as "The Collectif - Les Morts de la Rue," a group of associations who gives dignity to deceased homeless people a proper funeral. The "Secours Catholiques" & the "Solidarité Français" to name a few more.