November, 2006:

No holiday could ever replace Christmas in the heart of many.

For families, it is a time to gather, regardless how far you may need to travel. The son brings his wife and kids home to nanay and tatay, though they needed to travel far a day before to avoid the rush. The daughter has called from abroad around noontime to great her parents, brother, nephews, nieces and sister-in-law a Merry Christmas. She could no longer wait for midnight to dial his father’s mobile number, lest she suffers network congestion. Unfortunately, there is no landline at home. It would matter to nanay and tatay to know that she’s fine, that although she misses them all especially that it’s Christmas, she is alright and would celebrate Christmas with friends. It would be half-true of course because inside she’s aching to be home.

While nanay and the daughter-in-law prepare food for Noche Buena, tatay sets to prepare the videoke using the magic mic his son gifted him last Christmas. The son knows his father by heart. When he was younger, his tatay and his titos would occasionally gather over a bottle of brandy and take turns in singing to the top of their lungs a la Matt Monroe, Tom Jones, Victor Wood and the all-time favorite Frank Sinatra.

Tonight, the competition for the top score is between father and son. Or so, they thought. Because after dinnertime at around 7PM, the titos have come to join the aspiring videoke kings. Tugged along were cousins, and aunties.

“So, this is Christmas,” says a good Christmas song. The cheers, the varieties of songs, the laughs – the fun. Indeed, this is Christmas. And rightfully before the father and the son are left alone a number of Christmas songs have already been sung. One voice above the others from he who holds the mic and the rest join in chorus. It doesn’t matter how bad it may sound, how defeated the well-recorded background is with wrong timing, wrong tone and wrong pronunciation. Tonight, people actually enjoy.

Abroad, the daughter and her Filipino friends share a simple feast. And a little later they join their families in the Philippines in the one passion that binds all – the videoke.

Videoke is everywhere just like Christmas.

Years before, we celebrate holiday seasons in a grand way. There were beautiful decorations, sparkling lights, festive foods and pretty dresses. Children are visiting form house to house to greet their relatives. It was also the event of the year where family members are reunited. Christmas and New Year, indeed, are the most awaited time of the year.

What signals this favorite time of year? For me, it is the breeze of the air and the music that can be heard everywhere. Filipino culture dictates how Filipino people are musically inclined. From folk song to natural instruments, form instrumentals to hard metals, from solo to choir competition… all of these only show how we love music and how music loves us. Not to mention the entrance of Karaoke singing trend. I remember my favorite Karaoke song which goes… “Looking through some old photographs, faces and friends we’ll always remember; watching busy shoppers rushing about, in the cool breeze of December…” Surely, Christmas will be a very happy celebration to remember.

But as time goes by, the celebration became less and less grand. Decorations are simpler, lights are less, foods are less extravagant and clothes are less expensive. I noticed that as one grows up, the less value he or she will give to these seasons and their true meaning. The essence of Christmas is diverted to the gifts people are about to receive and the New Year focuses more on the quality of celebration prepared by a household.

But I realized that Christmas and New Year are just the celebration of what we truly receive form God: that the true meaning of it is Christ Jesus whom the Father have sent us to reveal His unconditional love for us and a beautiful promise of tomorrow.

I am now contented with the simple way my family celebrate this season. In the crises that the world is encountering right now, peace and love will be the greatest gift I can give. I can start sharing this gift within my family. What is more important is that my family is complete and shares the same happiness I received form above. I’ll break the bonds of hatred within me and start a new life as the wonderful promise of God is brought by the year ahead.

Let us welcome Christ in our hearts and live Christmas and New Year not just in this season of the year but every day of our lives.

The advent of the Karaoke is really phenomenal. Do you want to know why? The reason behind it is very simple yet logical. We do not have to memorize any lyrics! That is a relief, isn’t it? Gone were the days that you have to memorize the lyrics. Admit it, if you are like me who loves singing, you just have to know the lyrics of the newest song to hit the airway. We used to buy tons of song hits just to know the lyrics of a song.

But Karaoke change all that. Now, the lyrics are being played too while singing. And to some extent it guides the singer on the singing properly. It highlights the lyrics too. That is good if you are mastering new songs and if you are a new singer, it gives confidence to you too.

My friends and I have tons of fun inside KTV bars. It is nice to go to those places. You can sing and dance minus the embarrassment of doing it in front. Fun!!! Fun!!! Real fun I tell you and I miss that really. We do that every now and then, to release the unnecessary stress from work. We sing and dance inside KTV bars like we never did before. How I miss those times. I miss home too because there we have our own Karaoke there waiting twenty four hours a day, seven days a week where I can have precious moments with my loved ones.

And now to be honest, I am discovering the fun of doing Karaoke online. I am addicted to it to be honest. And I am singing while writing this. It allows me to choose many songs from various collections. R&B, pop, love songs, oldies; you name it they have it. You can sing while working in your personal computer. And if you are a music lover like me, you must try it.

I used to work at a health center, once my co-workers and I were joking about all the patients outside waiting in line for so long hours that they become irritable and in turn become ill-tempered to us. We already have a television set at the lobby but that does not keep neither the patients nor their companions entertained and away from boredom. So we had a clever idea–we thought that we could install a videoke microphone outside so they will not mind waiting all morning for their turn.Of course, our idea is both outrageous and incredible, not to mention kind of impossible. It isn’t right to put up a karaoke in a health center, right? But this is only a result of the observation that Asians enjoy singing so much, no matter when or where they are. Normally videokes are present in birthday parties, festivals and other affairs. But since the introduction of the videoke microphones in the market, even along the streets, even at simplest of days, singing-along has become a definite pastime!

As ingenious as our idea to put up videoke in our facility, is the Magic Sing: the sing-along microphone that is both sleek and elegant at the outside and equipped with fine technology in the inside that results into brilliant performance. It’s one of the most popular brand in the market today, but it proves to be as competent as them.

Sing karaoke and transform your dull, monotonous gatherings into sparkling and spontaneous parties your friends and colleagues will truly enjoy! Paired with lots of food, drinks and people in high spirits, karaoke will prove to be one of the most ingenious inventions of our time! Too bad a heath facility and a videoke is not a good combo. =)