CHIT REODICA’S CHRISTMAS VILLAGE BRINGS OUT THE CHILD IN EVERYONE
She is also part of the Center for Health Innovations and Solutions and is still a consultant in the city governments of Malabon and Pasig.
Her weekly mahjong games at home with friends and neighbors also keep her preoccupied.
Visitors to her Christmas village cut across generations. She herself is amazed that, from seeing pals of her son, Joey, hang out in their home during Christmas, now the friends of her college-age granddaughters have their photos taken beside the Christmas village.
Reodica allows children to bring home some of the small pieces from the Christmas village that can easily be replaced, like the toy cars. She also lets them rearrange the village.
Original
Many pieces in the Christmas village are the same age as Mariah. Almost every part is original and is in good working condition. The train that goes around the village tends to derail from time to time, but Reodica herself would try to fix it.
But among the nearly 1,000 priceless pieces on display, the oldest among all is her favorite—the Disney carousel, a gift of her former husband Romy to their son Joey.
Joey was around six years old when his dad gave him the carousel, Reodica said. That would make the toy around four decades old. It still works.
It takes her a whole month to put together the Christmas village. The Reodicas have never replaced the Christmas tree that she bought 23 years ago.
She starts to assemble the village early October and makes sure she completes it by Nov. 1. “So, after the kids in the subdivision go trick or treating, they proceed to the Christmas village,” she said.
Last year, she had laser lights installed at the facade of the house. This year, her “obsession” is the fake snow she wants to put in the Santa House.
A well-meaning relative once advised her to just cover the Christmas village for the rest of the year and take the cover down for the holidays, to save time and effort.
“But that would take away the excitement of setting everything up!” she said.
Even when she was Health Secretary with a hectic schedule during the holidays, Reodica made sure she devoted time for her family.
“You find time for yourself and your family. Christmas is the best time to make yourself hap- py, and I am happy setting up this Christmas village,” she said.
There was only one Christmas when she thought that it would be the last time—when son Joey told her that he and his own family were thinking of moving out and staying in a place of their own.
“I thought that would be the saddest Christmas for me,” she said. But, lo and behold, Joey and wife Linette changed their minds.
This year, Reodica again felt a tinge of sadness because, for the first time, Joey and his family are abroad.
“I told him, ‘Joey, do you realize that after 48 years, this is the first time we aren’t spending Christmas together?’ Then he reminded me that I have always told him to look at the positive side of things. Which meant the two of us have spent Christmas together for the past 47 years! I almost fell off my chair! Nakakainis, naisahan ako ng anak ko,” Reodica said with a laugh. The Christmas spirit in Chit Reodica is alive and well.