...Tatang and Christmas Day

This space was created sometime 2014 and since then I have been meaning to start posting remembrances yet can't find the right time and on which stage in my life should I begin with.

But the mind was supposed to work like a RAM chip.

This being Christmas Day, I tried to dig deep into my cache and accessed early 70's and what I could remember is waiting for my father at his place of work at a barber shop somewhere in the vicinity of Araneta Center, Cubao.  It was eve of Christmas and shop closing would be around 9:00 PM.  Going back home, we would walk down Aurora Blvd and head down to where we live at Virginia Street, a secondary road, which is parallel to Highway 54, now EDSA.

Tatang was very busy that day.  If my count was right, he must have had cut hair for more than 20 customers.  That's many a head considering that Tops Barbershop in those days has about 20 full time barbers.  But it was the holidays and many a male would want to be looking more guapo.

Tops Barbershop reminds me of Mang Salong, Ninong Val, Mang Teddy, Mang Ben, Peter, Danny, Nonoy, all of them skilled haircutters.  It was considered as a first class man's hair salon at that time and would count celebrities in various fields among its customers.  From the customer's waiting section you could see Stella Maris College clearly, directly opposite ShoeMart.  Next door was Commander Drug and across was Mercury Drug.  Then, further down was Ma Mon Luk Siopao and Mami House.

On our way back that evening, I would glance at the toys and gifts being peddled by vendors along the bangketa.  I was praying hard that father would consider buying me a toy gun as my consolation for having accompanied him, but no chance.  We passed by a bakery and he bought a loaf of bread and that was it.

Despondent as I was, we reached home and the stark reality greeted me.  How would Tatang ever think of buying me that toy when we could not even afford to have electricity run into our home.  Mamang greeted us at the door of what was then called a barong-barong and along ran my 6 other siblings.  We would partake of the loaf later, sans any spread, not anything in between much less some juice to wash it down.

To us, that was to be our noche buena.