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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider Christmas people

Christmas people

Published Dec 18, 2023 11:16 pm

MEDIUM RARE 

Jullie Y. Daza

She’s known as the happiness giver because her parties are designed with a theme, a motif, and fun in mind. What better reasons than a belated birthday party on Dec. 10 and the imminent arrival of Christmas?

Friends of Mellie Ablaza received invitations along with a Barbie doll dressed in pink, to remind them that they should come in pink. I don’t know how many men complied with the instruction, but Maurice Lim had a great time click-clicking his camera as a wave of pink from blushing to shocking ruled the Ablazas’ “Amelia” resort in Alfonso, Cavite, a corner of which is reserved for Louie’s garage for his vintage cars.

In Greenhills, San Juan, Nonie Basilio chose Dec. 13, Wednesday, for an afternoon get-together with at least 50 of her friends. Thank you, Nonie, for hosting the merienda before the crunch and crush of serious Christmas traffic on Ortigas Ave. (In France and other countries in Europe, Wednesday is an almost sacred day because it breaks the week in half and children don’t have to go to school.)

After Mellie and before Nonie, on Dec. 12, it was “Mader” Ricky Reyes’ turn to host a Christmas dinner for one group of friends, in this instance 10 of us seated along a mile-long table for 24. That’s the size of Mader’s family, siblings and all, and the table rightfully matches the grand staircase leading to the four bedrooms upstairs. Mader sat at the head of the table while her partner Cris Aquino sat and stood, stood and sat listening to or dropping bits of conversation. I did not contribute any stories because I was concentrating on the food – who knew Mader could cook? No, she doesn’t “but I know the recipes” for beef sinigang, sardines baked with carrots and potatoes, and crab omelet, with fruit salad for dessert.

Dinner was an excuse for a house warming, this one being house No. 15 in Mader’s legendary rise from anonymity to fame and fortune as a brand name in the beauty business. Three stories tall, the house at Alta Vista seems taller as it commands an unusual view of Quezon City, those irregular pinpricks of light beaming in the distance like the lights on a Christmas tree.

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