Students enjoying the CPU Christmas spirit. Background is the outline of the CPU Chapel.
So after dinner, my kids asked me to drive around CPU where we can do some walking. Good exercise. We hopped in to the car – my two kids, two apos of my brother, my wife and I.
We proceeded first to Angelicum School which also has the same Christmas lighting activity every December. But Angelicum has not yet started its lighting activity. The kids were disappointed. But nevertheless, on our way to CPU, they comforted each other with stories of ghosts residing in Angelicum.
A big screen was put up on the football grounds to show the goings-on of the program on the stage nearby. Background is the outline of the College of Nursing building.
The atmosphere in CPU was festive. There were lights overhead the roads and lights to outline the buildings. There were food stalls selling the usual street foods and it was fun to see students in shorts and jackets and some in uniforms, eating isaw, barbecue, or hotdog sandwich. My kids also wanted to buy swaharma but I told them we just had our dinner and we were there to see the lights and to do some walking. Again they were disappointed but they ran to the football field where there was an ongoing program.
We never had our walking exercises because the kids preferred rolling on the lawn. So I told them we better go home as they still have classes the following day.
My kids enjoying the night in CPU. Note that they are wearing jackets. This December is colder than the previous ones.
The road in front of CPU was bumpy, especially the one leading to Sambag. Grabe. You will never think you are still in the city.
Instead of going straight home, we headed for Pavia to see the two big houses near Aganan bridge which had the most audacious and extravagant residential Christmas display in Iloilo. We passed by these houses many times on our way to Cabatuan and back. But we never had time to stop by.
When the kids learned that we were heading to Pavia, they were excited.
One of the Aganan houses as seen from inside the car.
When we reached the Aganan houses, I parked our car across the street. Ours was not the only car parked. Many passersby were also parking for a moment and taking pictures. Many people were milling outside the gates. Hangang-hanga sila sa lights and decorations. Parang di sila nagsasawa sa katitingin. They were unbelieving and childlike. Parang they thought they were transcended to some magical place and they were not in Pavia. The other houses nearby were bare of Christmas decors and lights. At least this was my observation. The residents of the nearby houses were sitting in their porches either sad that nobody paid attention to their meager decorations if any, or happy that they will not be paying much for electric bills this Christmas.
My kids were mesmerized and infatuated by the decorations. They were busy praising or commenting on the extravagant display. Gradually they kept quiet. They were now sleepy.
Back home we had no Christmas decorations. There is an ongoing renovation in our house. It’s just small repaint and alteration jobs but these somehow made it hard to put up the Christmas spirit. The kids will possibly do some decorations next week.
Of the two Aganan houses, this one is more ostentatious. Top photo is a close up of the house. Some of the life-size Santas were moving or dancing to Christmas carols.
But all along, I don’t like my kids to embrace Christmas as a go-for-broke and ostentatious celebration. I taught them to embrace good Filipino traditions, and the commercialized Christmas in the Philippines is not a Filipino tradition. I told my kids that Christmas reminds us about the birth of Jesus Christ and doing good and giving love must be done daily and not just on Christmas Day. We can have Christmas decorations but the best decoration is in our hearts.
Years past, when my kids saw beautiful Christmas displays they would inform me that they wished we would have the same in our house. Tonight I was happy. My kids liked the Christmas displays. But they never mentioned giving our house the same make-over. @
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