DEFINITELY, Christmas 2020 is one of stress, anxiety and health restrictions as there are many activities forbidden by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF). It will be a restricted Christmas observance, to say the least.

Gone is the day of merriment until the remnants of the global disease are totally erased and restrictions of movement are lifted.

As I've written in a previous column, there should be no dampening of the Christmas spirit since the tradition is revered since olden times. We are aware of the harmful consequences of our carefree style of living. We must admit that we are still treading on dangerous grounds.

Temporary relief has been provided by the prospect of getting the vaccine against Covid-19 but this is still speculative as our resources may not be enough for the needed volume of dosage from the manufacturers of the vaccine.

Say, have we made the downpayment for the vaccine yet? If my numbers add up, even the business sector has pledged to help our cash-strapped government in procuring the much-needed vaccine. And there's the problem of prioritizing the recipients thereof. We know how the government machinery works. It often fumbles and still palakasan, di ba? Well...

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Christmas should be a time for rejoicing as we have endured more than ten months of restricted movement and anxiety. No one should take away that merriment with our dear ones.

In other parts of the country, there are people who barely survive the day. They who go hungry and destitute, they who have no one to assist them, to console them. These are people we should focus our minds on-the hopeless, the poorest of the poor, the dregs of our society.

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Latest reports on involuntary hunger or people who had nothing to eat here in our country revealed that millions of Filipinos go hungry at least twice a day.

Whose heart does not bleed when hearing or seeing this report of involuntary hunger? Mine does and yours?

Christmas should be a time of plenty for everybody. Let us keep it that way.