CEBU, Philippines - All of us have unique and creative ideas on decorating and designing our homes this Christmas.
Decorations give our home a different kind of energy that brings up the whole atmosphere for Christmas.
One of the unique Christmas decorations is the Christmas village of Ms. Corazon Ygnacio-Nuez.
She started her collection last February 2011 and continues to do so up to now.
Ms. Nuez loves to collect anything whenever she travels abroad. Her collection includes spoons, key chains, bottle and wine openers, shot glasses and plates, among others. Her friends and relatives also bring her one whenever they travel abroad and give her gifts that add up to her collection.
And then she saw the tiny houses that caught her attention because of their creative designs and unique stone features. She wanted to bring the tiny houses to the Philippines but they were too bulky and heavy.
Last year, her cousin brought some tiny houses for sale. She was thankful since someone she knew was selling unique tiny houses imported from abroad. She started collecting the tiny houses from then on. Friends started to bring her some, too. When she got a lot of tiny houses, she decided to make a Christmas village at her home last year, by herself.
This year, she hired Jun Esconde, who painted the backdrop and made her Christmas village an Alps-inspired one. Her Christmas village occupied their two-car garage, in front of their house.
Some of her tiny houses move, together with the tiny people inside them. There are cars, fire trucks, trains, tiny houses that have tiny people who are dancing and eating, Christmas trees, pine trees, hotels, pizza parlor, bakery, coffee shop, and a lot more. But most importantly, there is a church which is located atop the mountain, at the center of the village. There is also a park, with a merry-go-round and a ferries wheel. To complete the picture is a tunnel where a train passes through. The whole village is covered with snow.
The lights of the individual houses brighten up the village and make it glitter, giving off the feeling that indeed, in this tiny village, Christmas is just around the corner.
Selling for Love this Christmas
In our lives, there are interesting stories. They may be about love, sadness, family or even about friendships.
One of the interesting stories of our society nowadays is the survival of the poor who are living along the streets, especially during Christmas time.
Most of them have difficulty in earning money to buy the things they need. They are also sleeping in the streets, using any kind of thick paper and wood as their bed. Sometimes, they ask for food from sari-sari stores and carenderias that can satisfy them, as long as they can eat.
Alexander Ababon and Romel Ortega are living in the streets. They have to work so that they'll survive. One of their ways of living is selling Christmas lanterns. They use their talent to make Christmas lanterns to earn their keep. They earn their capital from assisting people in parking their cars at a corner or selling newspapers.
They have Christmas lanterns in different colors. Both of them are selling at the side street near the Redemptorist Church, along Elizabeth Pond. It is an ideal location to attract various buyers.
They are selling their Christmas lanterns from 150 pesos and 180 pesos for big lanterns.
Both of them may be poor but they never give up working hard especially when they know that it is already Christmas season. Moreover, money is not the basis for a happy Christmas, but the sharing of love of the people around. Being poor is not a hindrance to celebrate the Christmas season. It is not what every person looks for. It is the love that binds every one most especially the family.
For Ababon and Ortega, they are doing the job happily, most especially since they are thinking of their loved ones. —(FREEMAN)