Christmas and New Year's 🎄topics WEEK #289: A Real Celebration or Just Another Night Out? My Personal Experience.

Hello, #WeekendExperiences community!🎄
A very special greeting to everyone, and especially to @galenkp for inviting us once again to reflect and share on these interesting #WeekendEngagement topics from WEEK 289. I'm joining the conversation to answer the last question of this edition:

Do you have a good time partying or celebrating on New Years Eve or is it simply just another night for you. Explain?

For me, these holidays go far beyond being Just another night. They are a profound reflection of community, hope, and gratitude. Here I share my personal perspective, born from the traditions of my country and from experiencing Christmas with the essentials, where true luxury is priceless.

But it's worth asking ourselves, have you ever stopped to think if you truly enjoy Christmas and New Year's parties, or if they have simply become another night marked on the calendar?

For many, this time of year is plagued with social obligations, excessive spending, and a silent anxiety about meeting expectations. For others, however, it remains a beacon of hope and human connection.

Collective Magic: Christmas Gifts, Smiles, and Reborn Faith

Beyond the decorations and lights, there's a collective magic that transforms the streets and hearts in December. In my country, this magic has a specific name: the Christmas bonus

It's not a corporate bonus, but an act of pure community solidarity. Sanitation workers, cashiers, and many others proudly and without shame place their piggy banks. There's no shame in asking, no humiliation in receiving. Instead, there's a tacit recognition that we are all part of the same network.

The sanitation workers drive by in their trucks, not only collecting the year's worth of waste, but joyfully shouting Christmas bonus! This tradition goes beyond a few coins; it's a tangible expression of gratitude for those hands that keep our environment clean week after week.

At the same time, a social conscience that sometimes lies dormant awakens. Foundations and anonymous individuals mobilize to throw parties for children, deliver gifts to those who have the least, and dress up as Santa Claus to give something more valuable than a toy: a moment of pure and selfless joy.

This time of year is also a rediscovery of faith and spirituality. The Christmas Masses fill churches, not only with the faithful, but with a shared feeling of renewal and hope.

Many embark on journeys, sometimes long and expensive, with a single goal: to arrive home for Christmas Eve. It is a true moment of humanity, where hugs, conversations around the table, and the hope for a better tomorrow prevail.

What overwhelms us: Choosing Between Love and Commodity

The ads scream at us that the perfect Christmas can be bought. But herein lies the true power of each of us: choice. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day can be lived with love or with merchandise, depending on what you and I decide to prioritize.

I think that when we allow economics to overshadow these values, the celebration loses its meaning and effectively becomes just another night. But when we consciously choose to focus on connection, solidarity, and reflection, every tradition, starting with dinner, regains its profound significance. The question then isn't how big our dinner is, but how full our hearts are when we share it.

My Real Christmas: Hallacas, Gratitude, and Lessons for My Children

Was it a fairytale Christmas? No. But it was real. We were together, we had overcome the worst of the illness, and we could, even if only with the bare necessities, feed ourselves and stay healthy. At that moment, I understood that some families are separated by distance or conflict, and we, despite everything, were united. That was our true fortune. Gratitude for the essentials became our greatest gift.

Party or Just Another Night? You Have the Answer.

It's a beautiful time precisely because, in the midst of difficulties, it invites us to choose love over fear, generosity over indifference, and gratitude over lack. This year, I invite you to live your Christmas and New Year from that conscious choice. Celebrate what you have experienced, be grateful for what you have, even if it's little today, and dream, with genuine faith, of the more beautiful tomorrow you deserve to build.

Thank you for reading to the end.

Images are my own, taken with my Redmi 10A.