It may be Dec. 26 today, which means that for most of the world, the Christmas season is over. The next big day for celebrating is New Year’s Eve, which is five days away and is not part of the Christian holiday tradition.

Luckily for us Filipinos, the Christmas season isn’t really over yet. Those who go by the Church calendar consider the Feast of the Three Kings, which is celebrated on the first Sunday of the New Year (or January 6, 2013), as the last day of Christmas.

To those of us for whom 2012 has been a generally good year, prayers of thanks are called for. Regardless of one’s religious beliefs, there are those among us who had a peaceful and relatively prosperous year, and giving thanks is never a bad idea.

We need not be reminded that there are so many of our countrymen who did not have the best year this outgoing 2012. There are the thousands who have been victims of various crimes. There are the hundreds of thousands whose lives were laid waste by the natural calamities that occurred this year. And there are the millions of our countrymen who are still living below the poverty line, and have been for most of their lives.

The Christmas season is a time for giving, and now would be a good time to give to those who have less in life. You see them everywhere. They are the street children begging for crumbs. They are the tribal Filipinos who come to the big city this time of year hoping to receive some handouts. They are the homeless and the jobless who do not seek charity, but rather an opportunity to improve their lives.

By all accounts, the country’s economy did exceedingly well in 2012, and chances are that 2013 will be more of the same. The country’s gross domestic product and gross national product will continue to expand in the year to come. Millions of overseas Filipino workers will continue to remit dollars to their relatives in the Philippines, further boosting the country’s already healthy dollar reserves in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Business process outsourcing, real estate development, eCommerce and tourism will continue to be sunshine industries providing gainful employment to growing numbers of young and not-so-young Filipinos.

The midterm elections on May 13, 2013 will also give the opportunity for the people to remove corrupt and incompetent officials in favor – hopefully – of honest and competent public servants. We are keeping our fingers crossed that next year’s polls, the country’s second computerized electoral exercise after the 2010 presidential elections, goes smoothly despite some early warning signs regarding the integrity and availability of the precinct count optical scan machines to be used by the Commission on Elections.

Hope for the near future
One recent survey said that Filipinos are looking at 2013 with more hope. One reason for this could be the naturally optimistic nature of Juan de la Cruz. Even in the worst of times, he can see the silver lining in every cloud. What more during what can be deemed the best of times when the Philippine economy gets stronger and stronger with each passing month and year?

Once upon a time, the Philippines briefly attained tiger cub economy status. This time, the country is primed for greater growth, leading to full-fledged tiger economy status.

Our youth, in particular, can look ahead to the time when they are citizens of a developed nation because the elected leaders of today were able to find the way to break free from the boom and bust cycle that was the Philippines’ lot for so many decades.

Economic historians may one day look back at the last months of 2012 as a turning point, when doubts over the Philippines’ ability to clear all roadblocks to steady growth were finally erased.

Those who lived through these times should remember a time when they looked beyond theirs and their families’ immediate needs and considered those of their countrymen who did not have the merriest of Christmases.

Consciously or unconsciously, they may have lived up to the average person’s hierarchy of needs. When one has enough of life’s basic needs, the average person grows more aware of the world around him.

A greater number of Filipinos having more in life than previous generations, and more and more Christian Filipinos accepting that they are indeed their brothers’ keepers, can bode well for the most desperate members of our society.

Indeed, Christmas of 2012 is far from over. There is still sufficient time to share life’s blessings with those who have less, or who have fallen victim to the series of natural calamities that befell the nation and its people throughout the year about to end.

Perhaps this can be the best Christmas ever for those who finally realize that it’s ultimately better to give than to receive.