THE only Christmas songs I like are those by Alvin & the Chipmunks. Because they’re so cute and they sound cute. Cuteness overload.
But I think I’m now a Christmas fan. On Saturday evening I went to Limketkai Luxe Hotel to attend its Christmas tree lighting ceremony. It was raining cows and carabaos, which is always a warning to never travel from uptown to downtown especially in the evening.
I could have cancelled and sent a message to the invite committee that I’d rather stay home and read books than take the risk of going downtown where traffic is the standard operating procedure and floods are always a possibility during heavy rains.
But I was already dressed and even followed the casual pastel-color dress code. Should I now change into pajamas and call it a night? Nope. I decided to go downtown, and started writing this column while mobile.
And this was not even FOMO—Fear of Missing Out. The last time I attended a hotel’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony at another hotel last year, I swore never to attend another Christmas tree lighting whatever. Because that hotel’s Christmas tree didn’t even resemble a tree. I had to look for it upon arriving there. And when I realized that a particular object was their version of a tree, I thought, You mean to say I went all the way from uptown to downtown for this? Good thing it wasn’t raining then. The weather was behaving that night.
So, this time, I was hoping that at least the tree would be worth all the hassle.
The best Christmas tree I guess is the one at the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. That tree is huge, and a major tourist attraction for the Christmas season in the City That Never Sleeps.
On Saturday night, the rain just kept going and going like an Energizer Bunny, complete with lightning and thunder. I thought, if the worst would morph to worst, I’d end up checking in at the hotel overnight. Juice colored. Why oh why.
This was the night that Luzon was preparing for Typhoon Pepito, someone even said it’s going to be like Sendong, and there I was, attending a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. And to think I wasn’t even assigned by Gold Star Daily to cover the event.
I’ve learned to make the most out of some situations, so, I chose to have fun at Luxe. It became an occasion to have mini-reunions with friends I had not seen for a long time. And to savor yummy food. And to have ballroom dancing after the event, as if the daily Zumba classes from Monday to Friday were not enough.
Yes, Luxe has ballroom dancing at its Lobby Lounge on Friday and Saturday nights from 7:30 pm to 11:30 pm.
There was a time when ballroom dancing was one of the nightlife activities in Cagayan de Oro, and parties also had dance instructors just in case some guests would love to dance.
Now, parties have line dancing where guests follow the choreography of a Zumba instructor. And for sure the gym’s Christmas party will have that—kind of a Zumbathon.
