A spectacle of lights and music, breath-taking floats and cute characters for the children and young-at-hearts to enjoy cap the grand opening of the Festival of Lights at the SM Mall of Asia. Shoppers and evening strollers flocked to the event last Dec 1, 2012, Saturday.

If you want a place that evoke happy, Christmas feelings, a little store in Jupiter Street in Makati is just that.

It’s hardly the center of the fashion world but more than 2,000 models have taken to the catwalk in a Makati shopping mall to claim a new world record.

For over four decades, Rustan’s has been completing the Christmas lists of many Filipino families—all in the pursuit of rare, special and memorable experiences in every gift item, wrapped in the timeless tradition of supreme customer service, and topped with a bow of pure shopping privilege. And true to the season, Rustan’s only has the finest array of gift ideas to make every Christmas dream come to life.

It is a golden brown, puffy half-moon, oozing with mozzarella at the edges and garnished with fresh basil leaves. Elegantly accompanied with a bottle of chili oil, the calzone offers many of the pleasures of pizza.

One of the biggest criticisms about the late great CEO and billionaire Steve Jobs was that he didn’t espouse or use his influence and renown to promote philanthropy, quite unlike his contemporary and longtime rival Bill Gates.

You know Christmas is near when you start marking bazaar dates on your calendars. One of the biggest and most diverse holiday bazaars is the annual International Bazaar, organized by the International Bazaar Foundation, Inc. (IBF), Ladies of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Spouses of the Heads of Missions (SHOM), and members of the diplomatic and consular corps.

No matter how hard we try to keep it out of mind, I am sure most of us are already thinking about the coming holiday season and how we are going to deal with the additional expenses that cannot be avoided.

Christmas is a big deal in the Tantoco home, as it is in a typical Filipino family.

Do you smell Christmas in the air? Welcome the “ber” months! The Philippines must be the only country that starts the holiday season once September kicks in.