Lights!

My siblings know me so well. And I miss them so much. This morning I got an email from my brother. It just had this picture and no captions.

The subject line read: BCE Place this morning.

My brother and sisters know that this is one of my favourite spaces in Toronto. I was still living there when this was being built by Santiago Calatrava. The space merges an old bank building and a tall skyscraper into an amazing visual feast. My brother’s office used to be in this building and we would often make this our meeting place.

Hanni sent me this by Twitter yesterday. The CN Tower all decked out in lights.

I love Christmas lights. I love how crazy we get in Manila with our Christmas lights. Everything is so theatrical and stunning! I love that we can have an exaggerated Christmas and still wear Tshirts and open-toed shoes.

Now it’s my turn to show my family how Christmas is like in Manila this year.

Rockwell by far has the most elegant Christmas lights. Every year they turn on these rope lights that I assume are permanently attached to the tall buildings. The line of lights extend all the way to the ramp off EDSA.

Ayala Avenue used to be the king of all Christmas lights. I remember how crazy it was here in the early 2000’s. But in the past few years they seemed to have toned it down. This year they finally used LED lights.

If I were the designer I would have skipped the artificial tree silhouette and shrubs. I’d have extended the lights all the way to the palm leaves for a perfect tropical Christmas theme. But then it would look just like Rockwell’s side walks.

But perhaps the reason Ayala Avenue is a bit subdued was because the Ayala Triangle Park completely went all out! This has become a wonderful family tradition. Every year for the past three years we take the kids to see the lights and sound symphony at the Ayala Triangle.

It’s perfectly magical! Lily, our dancer, celebrates each beat and sound.

The Ayala Triangle Light Show goes on every thirty minutes. This year the music was mostly all Filipino festive songs mixed with contemporary dance beats. Here, Lily is raving!!

There’s no stopping the dancing Lily. And she had just recovered from the flu!

There is nothing like it. And I know you would love it here. Knowing Dad, he would probably stay for three rounds. Each time picking a different spot. Sigh… I miss you all. So much.