The cold Christmas weather… can you feel it already? It’s coming. So, why not kick back, relax, soak in all the holiday goodness and just “be in the moment” with a cup of wonderfully made coffee to keep you company.
That’s the kind of Christmas Seattle’s Best Coffee wishes for you to experience. The kind that brings back childhood memories of days gone by… filled with the joy of Christmas morn, of toys and of carefree innocence. Wouldn’t you want to relive those moments when mom would whip up a cup of hot cocoa or maybe a cold chocolate drink for you in the wee hours of the morning and everything would suddenly just feel so comforting? I’m sure you would.
And Seattle’s Best wants to help bring back that feeling of Christmas warmth through their selections of holiday coffee offerings. Not to mention the complete makeover of every Seattle’s Best branch’s interior design in keeping with the Yuletide spirit.
Starting today (Yes, TODAY), Seattle’s Best will be making available to the public their various new coffee concoctions that uniquely tugs at our emotions, invoking feelings of child-like Christmas delight. Read more
He commented on my blog entry: “SentiSabado encourages people (especially kids) to go and make new memories, today!”
Make new memories…
That phrase stuck in my mind… Why do kids nowadays have to be encouraged to go and make new memories today?
Encourage them? Isn’t that supposed to come naturally? Aren’t memories formed by every action we take and every interaction we engage in?
It is in pondering this that I ultimately realized the reason why we, the so called “Gen X/Y” babies, have so much memories and nostalgia compared to those who were born in the 90s. We actually had more interaction with the world… the people around us… the things we did… the places we’ve been to… the experiences we’ve gone through…
Not because we are (obviously) older than them. No.
The main culprit (in my honest opinion): computers, game consoles, internet, cable TV, etc.
Kids nowadays are holed up in their own imaginary world playing PSPs, iPhones, Farmville, and all those other time-consuming-and-attention-grabbing devices.
Heck! I see a good number of kids and teens playing with PSPs at the mall even while walking!
Whatever happened to engaging conversations or laughing at simple jokes… or the friendly banter every now and then… or even simply looking at your surroundings while walking? Does it ever exist anymore… with the younger ones for that matter?
Back then, our idea of recreation and fun was climbing a tree, hanging out in the park with friends, playing “tumbang preso” till it became too dark to play outside. Even our toys back in the day would encourage us to interact with others (Can you imagine playing tex by yourself? Or play “touchball” without a friend”?). Going to the mall was an exciting experience for us every single time… just to walk around and see the new places… we’d take everything in and love every minute of it.
The only time we’d be caught inside the house was either due to homework… or because it was time for our weekly dose of Saturday morning cartoons.
What will these new generation of kids look back at when they grow older? What kind of memories will they have? If they had their own form of #SentiSabado, what sort of nostalgia will they reminisce on?
Moments such as “hanging out from dusk till dawn playing counterstrike in the internet cafe”, maybe? Or “how Farmville changed Facebook gaming”? Or perhaps, “watching all sorts of trailers on YouTube” and “reaching the high score of “Need for Speed” on the PSP while ascending the escalator”…?
Don’t get me wrong… PSPs, cable TV, the internet are all cool! They’re great!
But anything in excess is unhealthy.
So, going back to my first question… “Encouragement?”
Of course. No doubt!
If for no other reason, let #SentiSabado be the means to help encourage kids… to limit video games… to lessen cable TV watching… to set restrictions on certain activities…
…to get out more… to interact physically… to engage… to feel the breeze, smell the air… to live… love… laugh… to make mistakes… and learn from them…
SentiSabado will be back on Twitter this Saturday and you can be sure there will be more tweeps participating in it! Also, this week’s SentiSabado will be having a theme! It has yet to be announced so make sure you watch out for it! Dedicate a search stream on your fave Twitter app just for #SentiSabado so you won’t be left out.
If you belong to the Generation Y group (born around the 1970s to early 1980s), don’t miss this event. Tweet your friends to join in on the fun!
With more people pitching in this coming weekend, let’s see how hot this topic will be on Twitter’s trending list.
Last Saturday was quite a memorable time on Twitter for a number of us Pinoy Tweeps! T’was a time spent reminiscing and recalling everything associated with the 1980s-mid 90s. Childhood past-times, establishments (restaurants, malls, parks, etc.), junk food, toys, clothes… name it! #SentiSabado was the hash tag that was given to these tweets.
“Senti”, meaning sentimental, and “Sabado”, which is Saturday in tagalog (Filipino)… the day this event took place.
Kudos to Tonyo Cruz (@tonyocruz) for starting this entire Senti Sabado trend.
Simple tweets that reminded us of our childhood such as, “Choo Choo Junction Restaurant in Greenhills! #SentiSabado” or “Saturday Fun Machine cartoon marathon every Saturday morning! #SentiSabado”. Great memories and wonderful nostalgia.
The eighties was the era of outrageous fashion (shoulder pad blazers, anyone?) and forgettable hairstyles! But that aside, it was (in my honest opinion) the best time to be alive and to enjoy the prime of our lives! Voltes V, Pac-Man, birth of MTV, G1 Transformers, Nintendo Family Computer, Knight Rider, Game & Watch, New Wave, and so much more!
Unlike kids nowadays who are trapped in their own world, playing PSPs, Game Boys, iPod Touches… our era were filled with days of patintero, tumbang preso, kick ball, trumpo, tex, jackstone, sumpit, gagamba-fighting, climbing the Aratilis tree and the occasional playing of the Family Computer.
Surprisingly, the entire discussion over Twitter was so well received that we were tweeting way past Saturday! Some were even tweeting with the #SentiSabado hash tag halfway through Sunday! It was hilarious and fun. We even received reports of some individuals who actually cried while reading other’s tweets. The impact was way more than expected.
A whole bunch of “Gen Y” tweeps started sending in their own memories and the entire conversation somewhat took on a life of its own. It became viral!
In that particular moment, Twitter, like a time machine, took us all back to 1980s again.
It was bittersweet. Times that I would like to revisit… people I would like to converse with again… moments that were took for granted… places and experiences that seemed to define the essence of my childlike wonder and innocence.
And though we all know that time, like a one way street, only goes forward… the journey back via Twitter during #SentiSabado was one ride I am so happy to have been part of. It was the closest thing to being there again.
And as with any journey, the trip is only made enjoyable when you spend it with friends… and THAT I did! Tweeps old and new. I met new ones along the way who, one way or another, had similar childhood recollections.
Thanks to every single tweep who joined in and made Senti Sabado the phenomenon that it was.
We should do this again. For sure.
For those who missed the first trip… I’m sure there will be more of these in the near future. So keep your eyes peeled and scour through Twitter’s trending topics towards the weekend… and hop along for the ride!
ambience, childhood, children, christmas, coffee, design, drink, holiday, journal, kids, love, memories, nostalgia, SBC, season, Seattle's Best Coffee, store, World Vision, yuletide 0 Comments 
