Sparing a little income to celebrate Christmas

A perfect Christmas is not merely receiving gifts, having new clothes and things, or elegant Christmas decorations at homes, but rather Christmas is the reuniting of families and friends to commemorate the special occasion of our savior's birth, which brings us true happiness despite the bleak economic status of many.

Fruit vendors from streets and various markets in the cities prove to be one of these Filipino families who are determined to celebrate the yuletide season from the revenue they earned, how meager it may be.

Lamberto "Paping" Lariosa, 21 year-old from Tambisan, Barili, is just a typical young adult who vends fruits in the Carbon Market to sustain his family's daily expenses. He commutes to the city from his hometown everyday, starting off at dawn.

Apples and Oranges are the most common fruits that are in demand when talking of this special occasion.

According to Paping, when this special season comes, he gets more profit from these fruits compared to ordinary days.

Costing P10 each for the apples and P5 each for the oranges. A capital of P2,000 can already produce a sufficient return of investments for his family.

He directly gets his supplies from a family friend who already excelled in this kind of business. Mr. Edwin Orosco. Orosco, who is also a kababayan, provides him the supplies since he is confident that there is a high demand of fruits when Christmas time is fast approaching.

Adding almost P500 daily to his pockets, this simple business can already provide his family's needs especially for this holiday season for which he purposely spare part of his income for the family's Noche Buena preparations.

He belongs to a family of nine, his mother Dora, is a plain housewife and his father Boy, a typical farmer in their place. Despite the burgeoning financial difficulty that they are suffering, Paping strives hard to make it through life, he doesn't dream of grandeur, his only wish is simple...to live happily with his family no matter how simple life may be.

Paping has not been fortunate to finish his studies, however he dreams of finishing school someday, which also serves as his driving force to help his family through selling fruits.