Starting Our Christmas Season with Cubao Fiesta Park's Christmas on Display

"Ang Pasko ay para sa mga bata" - this is one popular saying here in the Philippines during the Christmas Season. In English it means "Christmas is for kids" and I believe it is true indeed because I felt Christmas was more magical when I was a kid than now when I was an adult.

I still remember that one night when our parents brought me and my brother to Cubao to watch the COD Christmas Display. I can still remember how we tried to squeeze through the crowd so that we could go to the front. I can vaguely remember the whole show but I remember the belen that shows Mary and Joseph with the newborn Jesus, the angel delivering the good news to the shepherds, and the three kings delivering their gifts to the Holy Child. There was even an exciting scene where a child climbs, and oftentimes slides down the stick, while doing the palo sebo.

Now that I am a parent, it is my turn to bring the kids to Cubao. We brought them to Araneta City's Fiesta Park, now known as Christmas Carnival.

Fiesta Carnival or Christmas Carnival is an open air mini-amusement park or peryahan located beside the Araneta Integrated Terminal. The place is actually a bit underwhelming because it only has a few rides. Despite this, our kids had fun riding the bumper boat and having their photos with the giant Christmas tree.

We were dismayed after losing at the "ring toss game" and "catch a duck", where we lost hundreds of pesos. I will definitely these money traps in the future.

The highlight of our night is the Christmas Display. Our kids enjoyed the retelling of the Christmas story using the animated dolls. They were truly amazed and Bunso's favorite is the angel moving up and down the clouds.

The Christmas Display at the Araneta Christmas Carnival is the latest revival of the COD Christmas Display, which was one of the highlights of Cubao during the holiday season.

The Christmas animated display was started in 1966 by the Manila COD, which was a shopping mall at the then Araneta Center. The show ran until the mall's closure in 2002.

The old COD Christmas Display brought great memories to me. I do hope that the revived Christmas Display at the Araneta City Fiesta Park will also brought great memories to our children.

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Reference:

Araneta City FB Page

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