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