MEComposing

I'm still sick so I will rant.

One of the things I have always hated about Christmas is growing up watching relatives come flocking to our house, and my uncle's, and ask, ask, ask.

Yes, I don't have a naturally generous spirit.

But I have never liked having people sort of force my Mom to give them things, from food to clothes to money, in the spirit of Christmas. Plus, it never felt right how my Mom would already bless the parents but she'd also have to bless their kids, and then later on, their grandkids. Come on, my Mom had to wake up at 5 AM, the latest, every day of the year to earn her keep so it's really offensive that these people, who weren't in our lives the whole year, would oblige my Mom to give.

We got a reprieve, sort of, when my Mom migrated. But alas, she was here for this Christmas so there was that again. What's more, these relatives would even ask my Mom to hand something over for someone who did not come along with them, which my Mom refused to do. I guess it was a blessing that her GSIS pension wasn't released so she really had to put her foot down and only give to those who took the effort to be there.

And the asking/begging hasn't stopped. My uncle has been texting my cousin to ask my Mom to give aguinaldo to my cousin, whose wife has just given birth, for formula money. While I feel for the infant, who was born with an infection and requires a daily dose of antibiotics, my cousin was right in telling my uncle that I'd just go ballistic on them since I breastfeed so my cousin-in-law should to.

I know all about the gratitude that should come in being in the position to give, rather than ask. But it's not like my Mom hasn't helped these same people out many times already before. They just kept making the wrong choices. So, why should my Mom be obliged to provide for them when they're younger and stronger than she is?

Sigh.

I can rant and rant and rant. But it's really one of the downsides of Christmas. Even some of my nieces and nephews had the gall to demand aguinaldo from hubs, which made me decide all the more not to give them any. Some people just automatically assume it's other people's obligation to give. It is the season for giving but everyone should be giving. Some people just want to receive.

And frankly, it can get quite exhausting to help especially if they make you feel you're a bad person for not having satisfied them. Like my uncle. My Mom and my aunt has already blessed him immensely, but the way he asks, it's as if he hasn't been given any yet... and that my Mom should just really foot the bill for everything.

He should just have castrated his son if he didn't want another grandchild... right?

Sigh.

So crabby of me, I know.