So whoever said the spirit of Christmas is dead and gone can, well, drop dead. Fact is, Policarpio residents have been decking their homes for the past six Christmases, hard times or not. It all started one nippy Christmas day, six years ago, when Norma Lim, a businesswoman, received a belen for a Christmas gift. "I placed the belen in my garden," there’s a twinkle in Mrs. Lim’s eyes as she repeats an oft-told Christmas story. "Each Christmas, we would spruce up our belen and make it bigger and bigger. The children carolers who’d come would peek into our garden. Tingin nang tingin sila. So I said, ‘Why don’t I put it out so everybody can enjoy it?’"
The following Christmas, Mrs. Lim mounted her belen with all the Christmas trimmings in front of her house. It made passersby stop, look and look. "It started with just a small belen," Mrs. Lim elaborates. "It just grew and grew until it got this big. And we started decorating big, making sure that each year, we have something new to offer. Kasi sasabihin ng mga tao, ‘Ay, yan na naman?’"
The neighbors followed suit and the decorating frenzy spread like flu, infecting every house on the block. "Sumunod ang mga kapitbahay namin," says a beaming Mrs. Lim, basking in the thought that indeed, imitation is the greatest form of flattery. "Every year, the decor gets grander and grander, with the theme varying from one Christmas to the next."
The place has already been tagged as a tourist attraction in Mandaluyong City, making Mayor Ben Hur Abalos real happy and proud. "When the mayor’s wife Menchie is missing at night, chances are, you’d find her here," says an amused Mrs. Lim, who’s lived in Mandaluyong since 1979.
Like everybody else, we followed the Christmas lights and came upon this Christmas town one night, much like the star of Bethlehem leading the Three Magi to the manger of the Child Jesus. People came from as far as the provinces to watch and be dazzled. Others came from around the corner, like us who happened to live just a strolling distance from this street. Families came by the jeeploads, as if on a picnic.
As we looked up to admire the Christmas display on the facade of each house, we wondered how many lights and how much work – and money – went into its making.
"I can’t count the lights," Mrs. Lim tells us. "We have our own men who do the decor every year. Except for the belen, everything is done by them."
Mrs. Lim’s "elves" get busy in their workshop as early as August, when last year’s decorations are retrieved from the musty old storage, dusted off and given a new life. "Old materials are recycled and new things added," Mrs. Lim explains. "We use mostly native materials like wood. We have wood and carton and we just paint them. We also use papier mache. We have our own designers who come up with a different theme each Christmas, and we have our own carpenters who execute the designs. They’re also the ones who install the gadgets to make the figures move. Everything is done by us. We just keep adding every year, and some things get bigger with the passage of time. Like this year, our Santa Claus has grown."
Mrs. Lim adds, "Before, we didn’t spend much. Now, it’s costing us more and more."
How much is more?
"This year, we probably spent over P100,000," says Mrs. Lim, adding quickly, "but money is not important, compared to the amount of joy you bring to other people."
Mrs. Lim’s staff describes her as a very generous person. The fiftysomething Norma Lim was a Papal Awardee in 1993. She regales us with her humble beginnings, "I grew up in a sari-sari store. Little by little, I was able to put up my own restaurant."
This is her way of giving back, of paying back a big debt of gratitude for her good fortune.
Frankly, giving is something Mrs. Lim enjoys doing. "Hindi importante ang gastos kung nakapagbigay ka ng kasiyahan sa kap-wa mo. Nakita nyo naman kung gano karaming tao rito. Madarama nyo ba ang lungkot? Wala, puro lang kasiyahan."
People filled every inch of space and jostled each other for the "best seat in the house" from which to view Mrs. Lim’s Christmas display in front of two houses standing on two lots, each measuring 300 square meters.
This year, the houses on Policarpio Street simultaneously turned on their lights last Dec. 3, to open the Christmas display that runs until the Feast of the Three Kings on Jan. 6. Mrs. Lim is keeping her decor until Jan. 10, after the Feast of the Nazareno. The lights are up from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight.
So what’s new in this year’s Christmas decor on the street where Mrs. Lim lives?
"This year, we have Star City as our theme," she says. "There are the usual rides you’d find in the Star City. We opened our display last Nov. 17."
Kids and kids-at-heart are simply mesmerized at the sight of the octopus, ferris wheel and merry-go-round going round and round, or the crazy galleon swinging to and fro, or of trains chugging along. And of course, there’s a miniature shopping mall as well as a Jollibee and McDonald’s outlets (unpaid advertisements, of course).
This year, Mrs. Lim decided to add a tiangge to the Christmas attractions. The tiangge carries wooden goods and clothes at budget-friendly prices. Imagine T-shirts at only P35 per!
And then there’s her "ulam na pang masa." The neighbors have taken the cue from Mrs. Lim and each house has a specialty food or goods to peddle. There are stands for hot dogs, barbecue, puto bumbong, popcorn to fill the tummy after you’ve had your fill of the sights.
"It’s really like a tourist attraction," says Mrs. Lim with a glow on her face. "Every Friday, the mayor’s staff meets and holds their activities here. We have some activities here like the simba sa Policarpio at Our Lady of Fatima chapel."
The Christmas displays over at Mrs. Lim’s neighbors have their own stories to tell.
"We helped each other do it," choruses an army of young cousins and friends Jun Alfonso, Jeff Naguit, Dong Flores, Bong de los Santos, Eric Lim, Marlon Modelo, and Val Alfonso. "Jun designed it and we helped put everything together. We recycle from past Christmas decor and just keep upgrading. The belen is new, it was not this big before. We got it from a friend in Paete who gave it to us at a very friendly price. We have the same Santas we had last year, we just fixed them up. This year, we must have spent about P20,000 for everything."
These guys started work on their masterpiece last week of November and finished the job in three days. "If we worked continuously, we could have finished earlier, but we had our regular jobs and our schedules often didn’t jibe."
It’s teamwork with a capital T. In the cold night air, a warm camaraderie surrounds you. "Maganda ang samahan dito," the guys claim. "Walang gulo dito."
The guys introduce us to the owner of the next house which has a live Santa (actually two) walking on its rooftop. "My mom designed this parol in the center of the display," says Dave Dalisay. "There are more lights this year, and we added two live Santas – our staff Lally de Chavez and Dobie Deoquino."
It was the artistic Dobie who painstakingly installed the thousand and one lights that blanket the roof and the whole house like a constellation. It was Dobie, too, who did the tower topped by a lighted star.
"There were five of us who put up the lights, working from 8 a.m. till 8 p.m.," says a humble Dobie. "We started work on the lights in October and finished last week of November. It was hard especially when it rained because the roof was slippery."
Says Dave Dalisay: "We collected these Christmas lights through the years. We just keep repairing and adding a little. We get the best kind of lights – in colors green, red, blue, and white – so they last."
For the residents of Policarpio, it’s become a devotion. "We find enjoyment in seeing children’s eyes light up when they look at our lights," they say with a collective sigh.
Somehow, even just on Christmas, they help brighten up people’s dreary lives. Never mind if their electric bills keep increasing every year.