The holiday spirit came to life with much glow with the Christmas tree lighting ceremony Friday night at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center grounds in Susupe, marking the beginning of the Yuletide season in the CNMI.<\/p>\n
First lady Josie P. Fitial, along with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, led the traditional lighting of the giant Christmas tree and the outdoor nativity set depicting the birth of Jesus Christ in the event organized by the First lady\u2019s Vision Foundation and the Women\u2019s Affairs Office.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that our islands\u2019 children and families can find the spirit of peace and renewed hope each time they pass by or visit these beautifully lit grounds,\u201d Josie P. Fitial said in her remarks.<\/p>\n
As the holiday season is a \u201cjoyous\u201d time for family and friends, Fitial encouraged the audience to remember this Christmas is also for those who are less fortunate, those who are alone this holiday, and those who can\u2019t be home for the holidays \u201cespecially all our courageous men and women serving overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe greatest blessings of all are the ones that don\u2019t cost a thing: the comfort of spending time with loved ones, the freedom we enjoy, and the joy we feel upon giving something of ourselves,\u201d added Fitial.<\/p>\n
Fitial, whose birthday coincided with the ceremony, said in an interview that it\u2019s in the face of a tough economy that the community should remember the true meaning of Christmas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s when Jesus was born,\u201d Fitial told Saipan Tribune. \u201cSo let\u2019s love, have peace, and be always together. I just want everyone to love each other. No fighting; just be nice to each other. That\u2019s my wish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fitial thanked all those who helped make possible the putting up of the giant Christmas tree and the nativity scene for the holidays. They are director Arnold Seman, Lt. Pius Yaroitemal, Capt. Joe Pangelinan, staffers Carlo Evangelista and RB Camacho, and the Community Outreach of the Department of Corrections; Ting Jian Tang and Ramil of Kevin\u2019s Corp., Jun Manlulu of Jems Corp., Angel Hocog and Piding Camacho of the Food Committee; Department of Public Works-Maintenance; Governor\u2019s office maintenance; Multi-Purpose staff; Chong Fitial, Jack Omar, and Remy and Danny Buniag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The holiday spirit came to life with much glow with the Christmas tree lighting ceremony Friday night at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center grounds in Susupe, marking the beginning of the Yuletide season in the CNMI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156973\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}