Apples of my eye

There are certain things that say "Christmas." Once you see then at home, in shops or in the street, you automatically know that the holiday season has arrived. The most common ones are the "parol," "belen," and the staple "Christmas tree."

Growing up, there was another object that heralded the coming of the Christmas season. They're no other than Washington apples.

A bit of context. During my growing up years, American made products and goods (also known as PX,) weren't as easy to come by. There were no huge malls and supermarkets that are flooded with imported goods. Back then, the only way you could get "Made in U.S.A." products was if you had relatives in the U.S. who would send them to you. (Thankfully, my maternal Grandparents were Filipino-American.)

Yes, there was a time when it was hard to find Pringles, M&Ms, Taster's Choice coffee, Nesquick, Planter's peanuts, Libby's Vienna Sausage, Hormel Corned beet, and of course, Washington Apples.

These apples were quite rare that they were actually expensive. And you couldn't find them in the fruit stalls in wet markets. No, you had to go all the way to Unimart or some other major supermarket chain just to buy some of these big, red beauties. That's the reason why it was such a thrill to see Washington apples on the table during noche buena.

Of course, it's a different story these days. Apples have become very common that people pay no mind to it. Also, there are so many apple variants these days, including the fuji apple, Chinese apples, Granny Smith apples, and even mini-apples.

It's come to a point that kids don't even pay attention to apples anymore. It's become such a commodity that no one minds whether they have apples or not.

Thank goodness I'm no longer a kid. At least I still appreciate having apples in the middle of our noche buena table while the entire family shares that all-important Christmas meal.

Yup, I might not be a kid, but whenever I see those big, shiny and red Washington apples, I suddenly feel like one.