CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija -- A 45-feet tall Christmas tree surrounded by sparkling golden arctic inspired decoration of thousands of flickering lights, hundreds of glittering Christmas balls and 20 giant majestic golden bears highlighted this year’s Christmas Launch at SM City Cabanatuan on Sunday.

Ian Ezekiel Balao, SM regional operations manager said the celebration is just the start of many fun-filled activities at the mall this season.

"We encourage to whole community to celebrate this season with SM mall here from the wide selection of gift finds, gift giving through the Bears of Joy campaign up to biggest events that bring the spirit of Christmas more sparkling," he said.

The event gathered spectators because of the powerful singing performances of artist Frenchie Dy who sang with the audience and expressed her happiness to visit Cabanatuan City and become part of this year’s Christmas event.

At SM Megacenter, as they wish to bring back family bonding replaced by modern technology, the mall provides a scene of hanging out together in a theme park with family and friends, experiencing exciting rides, and walking through sparkling alleys with a great ambiance with the carnival inspired centerpiece.

Carol Licup, assistant mall manager, said that the mall attraction will give so much excitement and magical feeling to children and to mall goers.

"The carnival is a happy place and so as SM malls combine this two happy places into one, definitely it will the best place in the province of Nueva Ecija," said Licup.

The event was graced by local government officials like Board Member Jojo Matias, city councilors Peewee Mendoza, Junnie Del Rosario, Joselito Roque, Brigida Pili, DTI Provincial Director Jose Maria Ceasar, San Pedro Provincial Tourism Officer Armando Giron and other well known local personalities.

SM also promotes their charity campaign, the SM Bears of Joy wherein shoppers can buy two bears for only P200 pesos, one to keep and the other one to be donated to less fortunate children this Christmas.

The next major event is the Sky Dance Holiday Drone Show that will happen on November 23 and 24 at SM Megacenter and SM City Cabanatuan respectively.