[Music] hey YouTube Alex here and I wanted to do a video expressing gratitude for the best Christmas that I've ever had it's a beautiful day here on the Boulevard in dumag I'm actually coming to you on Christmas Day
and it's a sunny day it's there's some clouds in the sky but I'm not sure that it will rain too much today yeah it's wonderful to be here in the Philippines I didn't always have such good Christmases as
I have here in the Philippines I have had plenty of Christmases alone by myself back in the United States I'll try to show a photo if I can find one online in my old apartment or a comparable apartment
in California where I used to live I've spent most of my Christmases as an adults by myself even last year in Thailand I spent Christmas alone this year I attended not one not not two not three but actually
Four Christmas get togethers starting with Ray moving on to Jim then Justin and finishing with a friend who's a fairly private person you know who you are if you're watching this video but I do want to respect your
privacy these four Christmases have been fantastic each of them has been wonderful in their own way not just the food which I enjoy a lot but more importantly the company that I got to enjoy the time with and
it's just so different to have Christmas with a big group of friends people that you get along with people that you can relate to as opposed to just sitting in a cold California apartment with overcast weather I remember
2 years ago on Christmas trying to find a place that was open I think the pizza place was open one of the two businesses in my immediate neighborhood that actually opened on Christmas Day and I got some pizza
and the guy working there felt sorry for me and gave me some extra Pizza uh so that was so this year was a far cry from that and even better than the Christmas I spent in Thailand last year
that was pretty lonely now I picked up tutoring hours online was able to do some online tutoring but it's still not the same to have a bunch of different get togethers with friends and people that you enjoy spending
time with people that I never would have met if I hadn't come here to the Philippines I'd seen most of them on YouTube but it's a whole another thing to actually be there in person spending time with these
people that I'd always admired their tenacity encourage to come halfway around the world to live a better life but to actually spend time with them in person and to be included and to feel that sense that you belong
to a community has really helped me a lot with happiness and finding joy and I remember growing up to make up for the fact that my family was kind of messed up certain family members would be very generous
with buying material gifts and I don't know that I was always so grateful for that because it's it just felt like a substitution for something that was more meaningful with just time spent together and so these Christmases I
had here have resulted in the best Christmas I've ever experienced in my life it's so wonderful I can't express my gratitude enough for all the different people that have been good to me here in the Philippines material wealth
is really easy to find back in the US you see it all around you I think happiness is more and more fleeting back home it's been wonderful for me to be here in the Philippines to experience a great
Christmas even better than the Christmas I spent 5 years ago here in the Philippines so that was the last fantastic Christmas I had was when I was with my buddy zyell in Northern mind now in kagay and deoro
we spent Christmas at his mother-in-law's house and we had plenty of nice drinks and and good food and that was special and I don't want to discount from that Christmas but that was like the warmup to this Christmas
where this year was like 4X that that taught me a lot about Filipino Christmas it taught me a lot about the sense of community that Filipinos are really good at fostering here in the Philippines but yeah I'll never
forget this Christmas I'll never forget the time we spent together the joking The Laughing the Christmas games the the delicious food I mean man like all these people that are saying there's no good food in the Philippines they
have never met my friends not just the events that we've had but also the incredible food that we've had pizza ain't bad there's a whole another level in terms of enjoying things like latron and spaghetti and lasagna and
all these interesting dishes that Filipinos enjoy year round but especially around the holidays and and to have friends that you can connect with and spend time with and to just enjoy your time you know it's it's not super
enjoyable to have Christmas by yourself it's pretty lonely back in the States so I want to give a a shout out to all the people who may be watching this today alone in North America or in Europe or
in any other part of the world where maybe they grew up having a more festive Christmas or a happier Christmas like the United States used to have back in the day but today they aren't experiencing that Christmas they
may be alone they may be lonely it's really a tough time of of year for a lot of people and I think it's important that we keep those people in mind and if there's somebody that you want to
reach out to that you know maybe spending the day alone please do so it's a really nice way to make people feel like they are in someone's thoughts if they are feeling lonely if they are feeling isolated they're
feeling like they are all alone today it is really tragic not everyone is so blessed to have what I am so fortunate to have here in the Philippines I can't thank everybody enough for being so inclusive please keep
in mind too that for some people this will be their first Christmas without a loved one it is not an easy time of year for a lot of people they are reminded for many of what they do not
have and we want to be considerate to them and to think about them because uh not everyone in the world is so fortunate to be surrounded by people that they care about and I don't want to guilt people
I don't want to bring the mood down I know for a lot of people this is also very happy time of year certainly it has been that way for me this year it's worth thinking about and and expressing
gratitude I think gratitude's a big one I am feeling this year and I'm I'm thankful for this year I'm thankful for not sitting alone and an old apartment in California by myself eating pizza I want to Express gratitude
for everyone that has been good to me here in dagate the validation that people have provided me with has been lifechanging and life life affirming it's made me feel a lot happier about the future and really thinking through
a lot of the Gratitude I have to express you know back home you tell people you're struggling they tell you to build a bridge and get over it they act like it's a personal failing and a lot of
my friends here don't have that attitude they're much more encouraging they're much more validating we share in stories of each other's struggles we express empathy and sympathy for the difficulties that we've experienced in our lives I ask that
if you have it within your heart and within your budget to be generous to different charities or to be charitable in your own way if that's something like I said that that you can do people have been very
generous to me here people have been very charitable toward me here and I hope to pay it forward in the future uh I have to be transparent and that I'm I'm not where I want to be but I
know I will be one day and that when the time comes would like to be more generous and more charitable and be in a position where I could help other people out just as I have been helped out
just as I have been taken care of please stay tuned to the end for a credits role to thank those who have been so good to me it's a very small token of appreciation that I could share in
return for the kindness that has been shown to me Christmas time was always kind of hard for me growing up cuz my situation and to have happy Christmases is such a blessing I mean I remember Christmas when I
was growing up we were all trying to pretend that things were normal that things weren't messed up that we were a normal happy family and that things weren't the way they were right there was this idea of being
avoidant avoiding the elephants in the room avoiding the difficult conversations and pretending like everything was okay and that just never made any sense to me now by no means do I think my situation was the most toxic one
out there but uh certainly it was not the best either I remember watching a lot of the Christmas specials on TV and also the cartoon ones and thinking man I wish we were like that but we weren't and
that's just the way it was so I have extra appreciation for this year's Christmas in the Philippines it's been nice to see Filipinos who aren't so materially wealthy that still smile and still have Christmas cheer and still get
together to enjoy time with family even if they are of modest means and may not have the material trappings that we see in the US maybe because I grew up in a secular family but I don't ever remember
hearing I'm grateful that we have this food I'm grateful that we have these gifts I'm grateful that we're in a comfortable house with the heat on it was always me me me me me me me and so uh
it's it's so different to hear people open up the Christmas meal with a prayer and to express thanks and gratitude for what we are blessed with here in the Philippines not just materially but also in terms of quality
relationships and a sense of community so thank you so much for watching I really appreciate everybody's support all the new subscribers the wonderful people that I've met this year it's been an incredible year I think next year will
be even better and if you like the channel you haven't yet subscribed if a bunch of you haven't yet subscribed if you like this Channel and you haven't yet subscribed Please Subscribe down below and we'll see you next
time bye-bye
