Let the season of hope begin

Light up the Christmas tree and gather moments while you may

- AA PATAWARAN

What’s key now is to make milestones of every pos-sible moment. One such moment was the reopening of the iconic lobby of The Peninsula Manila on Sunday, one day before the ceremonial opening with the hotel’s general manager Masahisa Oba lighting up the 45-foot Christmas tree with Berna Romulo Puyat, Department of Tourism secretary, as his guest of honor.

Hope and memories

The Lobby on opening day was full and I’d like to think they all showed up not so much for hope, although it sure was on the menu, as it was for memories. Also, it was an occasion because, while other hotels had opened one way or another, their F&B outlets or their rooms, shortly after Metro Manila eased into GCQ, like the hotel next door Discovery Primea, the Peninsula Manila had remained completely closed for almost eight months.

When I went to dinner at The Lobby on Monday on the GM’s invitation, along with the hotel’s director of communication Mariano Garchitorena’s, it was as if the pandemic never happened. It was an event at once celebratory and melancholy with the old quartet or quintet playing old-fashioned Yuletide carols from their usual spot on the mezzanine, the giant Christmas tree lit up in traditional red, green, and gold, and the hotel mascot dressed, enmasked, as Santa Claus.