Christmas always comes early for us Filipinos. Once the –ber months have arrived, television news programs start flashing the one-hundred-days-before-Christmas countdowns and Alvin, Simon and Theodore start flooding the airwaves once again. Kagay-anons are always excited to celebrate Christmas and make it as memorable as possible each year.

Tourists will find plenty of sights to behold in CDO (and its neighboring towns) during the Christmas season.

Looking for Bright Lights?

Here in CDO, the Christmas lights are up as soon as the Halloween season is over. If you are looking for these kinds of colorful sights, be sure to drive over to these popular holiday attractions in CDO:

• The annual Christmas Festival in Opol – For the entire month of December, the highway along Opol will be lit up by giant lanterns and other handmade decorations placed near the road. It is always a treat to take a slow drive along the highway at night, when the Christmas lights adorning the lanterns and houses are all lit in their twinkling and blinking glory.
• Vicente De Lara Park and the Provincial Capitol – With the park recently paved, tiled and benched, you can expect that sitting under the tall trees draped with Christmas lights at night will be a more comfortable and enjoyable experience! The Capitol is always alight with lights at this time of the year. Programs and entertainment shows are often held in the evenings. It is the perfect place for tourists to relax al fresco while enjoying some street food.
• Limketkai Compound – the trees lining the drives of Limketkai Compound are lit up as well during the holidays. It is common to see friends and families on the back of pick-up trucks parked under the trees, having a good time eating and taking pictures. Be sure to drive through Rosario Arcade as well and check out the holiday decorations of the shops/restaurants there.

Looking for Holiday Bargains?

Christmas sales are just as highly anticipated as any other attraction during the season.

• Limketkai Mall, SM City, Gaisano Mall, Robinsons and Ororama  – Every mall in the city will hold a sale sometime in December. Belated Christmas blow-outs are also popular because of the mall-wide, end-of-year inventory sales with discounts going as high as 70%.
• Divisoria Night Café – This place is simply different during the Christmas season. Divisoria gets livelier with the evening musical entertainments, lighted posts and the traditional, annual Christmas tree made from indigenous materials. The traders usually reserve the best items and sell them the week leading up to Christmas. With everyone ready to spend and haggle with prices, the Night Café is certainly one of the busiest Christmas-gift-buying destinations in CDO.

Looking Forward to a Silent Night?

Of course, the best thing about Christmas is that we celebrate the birth of our Lord. It is the time of year to reflect on His life and His influence in our lives.

• St. Augustine Cathedral - The midnight mass in the Cathedral is practically a tradition on the evening of the 24^th.
• Gaston Park – The belen competition, with life-sized entries built in the park, used to be an annual event. Hopefully, it will be done again this year.
• Belen in a Tree in Iponan – This is a popular, annual competition in Iponan, and is similar to the one in Gaston Park.

These are just some of the reasons why Christmas is fun and exciting in CDO and its neighboring towns. If I were you, I’d take my pick now and start shopping around or celebrating, even when Christmas is still weeks away!

-Jay Daphne Bual-

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 17th, 2010 at 10:27 am and is filed under News and Developments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.