by Ricardo F. Lo, Philippine Star

Thanks to different time zones, Alice Dixson will be spending two Christmas Days this year. She arrived last Wednesday from Vancouver where she and husband Ronnie Miranda (a ‘web whiz’) have been staying for almost 10 years, which is the number of years they’ve been married. She’s leaving on Thursday, Dec. 25, Christmas Day, and she’s arriving in Vancouver also on the same day.

“So, dalawang araw ang Christmas Days ko,” smiled Alice who looked as pretty as ever, retaining her 1986 Bb. Pilipinas-International figure. (She and Ronnie don’t have a child.) “I’m spending the first Christmas Day here with my mom and the second Christmas Day in Vancouver with Ronnie. Isn’t it nice?”

The last time Alice came home three years ago, she attended to family matters (disposal of some properties, etc.) after her father died. She also didn’t stay long.

“My mom cannot travel far, so I have to be the one to come here,” said Alice.

In Vancouver, Alice works for RE/Max Advantage Realty of which she’s the (licensed) assistant. The Business Adminstration degree she earned at San Sebastian College comes in handy. But before becoming a full-time realtor, Alice for a while worked as an apprentice at a TV station in Vancouver.

Asked which is harder, being a realtor or being an actress, Alice said it’s being the former.

“As an actress, all you have to do is memorize your lines and ‘feel’ your role,” explained Alice (who got a Best Actress nomination for her performance as the title role in Regal Films’ My Other Woman, with Christopher de Leon and Lani Mercado). “As a realtor, you have to be good at convincing a client to buy, and it’s not really that easy.”

Four years ago, Alice announced that she was quitting showbiz and joining Ronnie for good in Vancouver. That was after she starred in the GMA soap Ang Iibigin ay Ikaw with Lorna Tolentino among her co-stars. The experimental set-up – Ronnie there and Alice here – didn’t work.

And what would make Alice change her mind, a juicy offer maybe?

“I will make up my mind when that situation comes up,” said Alice.