A Yuletide in Bogo Plaza: Celebrating the Christmas Season Always Lights Up Our Lives

Christmas bells and lights, nostalgia, and the joyous feeling carried by the December air have come all over in our respected towns this month. The lullaby of Christmas songs has already filled our homes with love, carolings from kids supplemented more vibrance to the upcoming holiday, and gifts and Christmas kindness found in our secret boxes tell much of how we happily awaited this season. The year truly started to wind down, bittersweet to feel the year we have lived with all the challenges and milestones that came, will soon be over and done. What we lived and learned to love the whole year starts to make sense these days, and while we try to figure out how to fit these memories in our keepsake, some are bound to leave our hearts to make space for another wonder who comes next year.

But even so, this holiday calls the right time to recollect everything dear to our hearts, may it be things that fulfilled our inner intentions for this year or those that broke us. For Cebuanos who spent the last two months in their tents and broken homes after the 6.9 magnitude earthquake, this Christmas is poignant in feeling, to think the last months of the year are filled with sadness and grief, with some families still grieving their departed loved ones and worrying about how to recover from this turmoil. But Christmas has still found its way to the north of Cebu, festive in all its decorations and dresses, filling the roads and plazas with yuletide colors, and bringing hope to the people who need to heal. "Celebrating the Christmas season always lights up our lives," the great Jose Mari Chan said in his very iconic song A Perfect Christmas. With all the things that darkened our days in Cebu, the Northern Cebuanos came happily to last night's Christmas opening lights, bringing people to the light they once lost and honoring the sacrifices of those who fought, who persevered, and most of all those who chose to be steadfast to live a life after.

Nostalgia came with the December air in our town of Bogo last night. By the first part of the opening lights, I found myself sitting on a bench with all the people who waited for this season and with the friends of mine I found in college. I am not a fan of watching opening performances, more so of boring dances and singing entries to entertain the crowd. But last night, everything was different. I could not get my eyes off the stage where people performed to honor and remember the situation this town had while recovering from the earthquake's repercussions. From the night of tremor to the days of asking for help and water beside roads, the event captured the sadness and memories as earthquake survivors, showing us how resilient the town was and how brave everyone was to choose to make another life. Alongside this, the night never forgot to let us remember the death of beautiful souls, of people who grieved, and of people who were grieved for.

The fireworks display blew out in the night sky after the much-awaited counting. I was really amazed and happy the moment the lights turned on and brightened the whole Bogo plaza, while fireworks made a meteorite show above us. I could not help but feel contented and grateful to experience Christmas—my first Christmas, rather—after 21 years of suppressing my wish to celebrate it due to religious reasons. I was a child yesterday, a toddler who found his first Christmas, and just kept on being amazed by the decorations and lights and fountains and anything I saw that looked joyful.

The people, including me and my friends, left the square to visit the Christmas village of the plaza. From parols to Christmas decorations and booths, the plaza looked enchanting last night, considering many people flocked in that one place like we were a whole family. The light emitted by the parols and booths made the atmosphere festive and bright.

My most favorite area in the village was this house village of houses with Christmas decorations believed to be a resemblance of people's homes before the earthquake. Each house is dressed with different designs and different colors, almost looking like a real house because of its perfect resemblance in structure and height. Stars, lights, terraces, windows with colors, and the whole houses grabbed most of my amazement more than the other features in the village.

It is really Christmas in Bogo Plaza with this fountain of yuletide colors, making its way to an up-high view that attracted many of the visitors. In fact, people flocked here first before the village to witness this fountain rarely lit up and awaited by the end of the year. The colors are mesmerizing to the eyes of visitors, it looks majestic with its watery sounds and the music of the whole plaza that was sang along with our hearts.

Santa Claus will never be forgotten when thinking of what to put in a Christmas village. He will always be there, you just have to find him or the reindeers that drive him. Santa Claus was so cute last night and I even tried touching that big and wide hand of his while some people rode his carriage to take some photos.

Another village was installed on the far right side. This one was the most funny to experience but also worrying, because it was close and possible to create a stampede among people. But with God's grace, everyone was safe and happy inside. It took graceful movements and control to be in harmony with the others. Inside were big Christmas gifts/boxes, towering candies, and small Christmas houses. The candies were scattered in the center and in a circle, suitable for great photos with family or friends. I even took a photo of me and my friends acting to eat a candy or sweets.

A night market is also present on the outside of the square, stalls and stores aligned along the fence of the plaza with many food and sweet options. Even until we reached the outside, many people were still walking toward the same path like a procession, but we were just looking for the best stall or shop to eat dinner.

We ate at Worthy Spot, a popular small café in the town known for its budget-friendly meals and snacks. There were already people there who were waiting for their lovely orders, full of excitement to taste one of the best offers in the market. It took us a while before we finally received our orders. We had takoyaki set, french fries, iced teas, and mango delight.

When the crowd lessened inside the plaza, we went back inside to experience the villages again with not much crowd. It was a completely different experience with no people around you and just the Christmas playlist you could hear while taking a stroll around. Christmas is truly alive in this town, and maybe three days from now I will go back there to bring my niece with me because she wanted to visit it when she saw my photos.

On ordinary days, the plaza looks simple, almost just a familiar safe space we walk through, but now it is transformed into something alive and comforting with its glowing colors and sound. The plaza shines not only with the decorations was amazed of but also with the reminder that even places like this town, wounded and tore apart, can rise again. And maybe that is what Christmas season is for. It is all about lighting up what seems to be ordinary, healing what was wounded, and finding hope in the middle of life we do not want while finding a meaning from it. Advance Merry Christmas to those who are reading this and I wish you a joyous season this month will all of your heart's content.

Thank you for reading and may Santa Claus and the Christmas spirit fill your homes with enough abundance and love.