Pico de Loro has lit up its symbol of joy and jubilation: An all-weather outdoor Christmas Tree, which was personally crafted using the innate bounty of the earth, the whole structure being all-natural. The officers and the staff utilized everything and anything they could get their hands on, painstakingly collecting and patiently pouring into their labor of love that is the 30-foot evergreen tree.

The inspiration behind this year's creation? None other than local birds! With an approximately 150 different classes in the area, these birds show up during various months to roost on tree branches, hum a few notes, forage for food and perch on the balconies of the residences.

Pico de Loro's Housekeeping supervisor and chief designer Florencio Garcia, together with the Engineering team led by chief engineer Paul King, is the brains behind the sustainable tree. In fact, they created the aggregate structure from scratch, resorting to dried leaves, bamboo stems, coconut husks, discarded fruit peels, nipa palm and talisay seeds. In a bid to become fully-sustainable, they employed empty aluminum cans, plus redeemable remnants from what typhoon "Odette "had ravaged. The undertaking was realized in three months' time — from conceptualization all the way to the routing of the electrical connections for the illuminations.