As an Italian living in the Philippines, I love Filipino Christmas traditions as they are familiar in many ways. Both Italians and Filipinos love to decorate their homes with colorful decorations, prepare special holiday dishes, and exchange cherished gifts. Most important is the nurturing of family ties and extending best wishes and glad tidings to one other.
I find it interesting and especially festive to unofficially welcome the Christmas season as early as September. I have also begun to associate Jose Mari Chan’s “Christmas in our Hearts” with the kick-off to the season of loving and giving.
In these extraordinary times, we have had to adapt our modes of celebrating Christmas. The huge gatherings of family members will have to give way to smaller reunions to ensure the health of the family members and their relatives.
Condominium dwellers like me can use shared facilities such as clubhouses and events halls to conduct their Christmas celebration, following the health and safety protocols put up by the building management. The festive season is a great time to make the most of these amenities, which expand a condo dweller’s living space well beyond the condominium unit itself.
Another key amenity in modern condominium units is strong internet connectivity. This facilitates all aspects of modern life, from work to socializing, to shopping. At Christmas, we can even hear the nine-day Novena masses from the comforts of home by conducting virtual visits to our favorite churches. This connectivity is key to Italpinas Development Corp (IDC), in our developments. We ensure that our units have a robust internet connection to ensure continuous connectivity.
No Christmas is complete without special holiday meals. Whether the gathering is large or small, culinary traditions take the forefront in many families. Open-layout plans, such as those featured in contemporary condominium homes, are excellent for enjoying the conviviality of living, lounging, and cooking up the family’s favorite meals.
Fun and safety must come hand-in-hand this Christmas. While communities are more open now than they were last Christmas, caution is still required, as the pandemic persists. Alfresco dining is a good compromise, allowing families to gather while ensuring good ventilation. Because of the pandemic, ventilation has come to the forefront as a key health and safety feature. This can be incorporated into our choice of party venues, as well as our choices about architecture and design. For example, IDC’s residential building developments feature an internal vertical atrium as an efficient natural ventilation system for the vertical and horizontal distribution of air throughout the buildings. Thanks to its efficient design, it delivers a passive cooling of the units by using a natural chimney effect.
Let us be cautious even if the pandemic cases in the country are going down to ensure a safe and healthy celebration of Christmas.
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