Depressed on Christmas Eve: An essay about acceptance and moving on

You queued for that cochinillo at the neighborhood store, bought fresh meat and picked up fresh produce for your mom to cook, and the courier kept on knocking to deliver gifts one after another. Yet somehow, that Christmas spirit isn't just quite there.

After all, this COVID-19 pandemic has taken away so much from you in so little time. In the blink of an eye, your loved ones died, you lost a job, your business folded up. It changed so many lives in so many ways. It changed you forever.

The grand display of fireworks is nowhere to be seen when the clock strikes 12 on Christmas. Suddenly you miss those family reunions where your pesky aunt asks why you aren't married yet. You long to see your cousins who kept on teasing you about how much weight you've put on. You miss the Christmas rush when you rummage the mall in search for that perfect Christmas gift that you'd hope would draw a smile on your special someone's face.

Yet even in the absence of the grand display of fireworks, the silence of the household, the lesser presents under the Christmas Tree, you still go through the motions and prepare for Noche Buena to partake on Christmas Eve.

As you shred the chicken meat for that molo soup or as you fold in the ingredients for the macaroni salad, you begin to wonder: what's so special about a Season supposedly about love and joy, when you have lost so much?

For those who lost a life, Noche Buena would never be complete as there will always be that empty chair that no amount of waiting could ever fill. Yet you can always fill your heart with wonderful memories that no amount of time could ever take away from you.

For you who have lost a dad, a mother, a child, a dear friend or your best colleague, may you find refuge in the love of your family and friends.

May you find joy in the little things that remind you of God's love this Season.

Things will get easier and the pain of losing will eventually become a little more bearable, so hang in there.

Your loved one is happily watching over you from heaven so smile back to the skies.

For those who have lost a job or a business, may you find new opportunities to explore in the seasons to come, find that brave heart to start anew.

Stop counting the millions lost, fret no more about that job that got away.

Instead count the millions you are about to make and feel excited about the new skills you are about to learn, the new people you are about to meet.

To that someone out there who sorely misses a dear departed, who got sacked from work, or who has lost millions and counting, there is no stopping it, the Season of Love and Joy is here. To that someone out there, I wish you a Merry Little Christmas now.