|
SUAANC ANNUAL CHRISTMAS
PARTY
by: Phoebe Beltran
With a whoooosssshhh!!! and a whooooo!!!
and a zip boom bah!!! the party took off
at the
First Presbyterian Church in Newark
at 5:30 P.M. on Saturday, December 6,
2008.
True-to-form Filipino feast, excellent
company, and top entertainment worthy of
American Idol contest, made
the evening a lot of fun and memorable.
Emcee Elfren Quial breezed through
presenting parts of the program with his
usual smooth banter that glowed the
audience to relaxation and utter
enjoyment. It was all music, music,
music: carol singing and some.
The children’s group numbers wowed
everyone with so much talent in
evidence: Zoe Concha’s solo number was
upbeat and someone commented, "
Puede sa American Idol!";
brother/sister Ethan and Emilee Vergara
did a winning number of "Feliz
Navidad"; the father-daughter
tandem Ralph and Trisha Catacutan at the
solo and piano had a striking
combination; and Joliano did his own
thing at the piano. Not to be outdone,
the adult groups (feeling, "di pa kami
laos, oy!") had the share of the
evening’s woww!!! with carol singing
presentations performed with much gusto;
and Jae warmed us all with his lovely
"Have Yourself a Very
Merry Christmas." With Perla
Bernardez at the piano the hall rang
with everybody’s robust singing of
Christmas songs to high heavens,
literally.
But wait...the culmination of the
evening was "The Surprise." - thanks to
Dodong Magdamo, a fitting and touching
reminder, lest we forget! It was an
audio of a meditation on a beautiful
message interspersed with uplifting
music, "What are we gathered here for?"
All the children were seated in a
semi-circle along with their
mother/father and listened to the
message. The entrancement in the hall
was almost palpable as the message of
the true meaning of Christmas was passed
on to everyone.
Then...Santa Claus came in all his
glorious redness and abundance! The
children received double bags and some
surprised adults got the spare. Such
generosity abounded that evening. The
sales at the goodies table for fund
raising weren’t bad at all.
Happily, with a hearty hip. hip,
hooray!!! the evening came to a close
withe another super surprise: Pacquiao
won the fight!!!
To everyone: A VERY JOYOUS CHRISTMAS
AND A FRUITFUL AND MORE MEANINGFUL
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
pjbeltran/12/2008
|