Christmas in the Tropics...

It's getting very close to Christmas and yet the weather here feels very much like the middle of August, making it difficult to get into the spirit of it all...

Things have really changed for us... the sharp chill of a clear December evening, roaring fires, snow-covered rooftops, marathon eating, and lack of daylight are all gone.

And we must admit that we miss the romance and charm that comes with that part of this short season. Yes people, we believe it's only two weeks long... outside lights and Christmas tree go up on Dec 15 at the earliest and everything back in boxes again on January 1. No exceptions.

Perhaps our rose-coloured glasses are surfacing and kicking in, but it seems that Christmas just isn't Christmas without those things during that short time and, yes, we are going to say this... sand and palm trees just aren’t going to cut it. In the past, this time of year always made us look forward to decorating and having a big Christmas dinner with our family while eating until we almost explode, and then the ensuing and mandatory left-over dinners carry on for a week there after. Then when New Year's comes around you stay up late watching movies and have a quick toast at the stroke of midnight and rush to bed as you ...just ...can't ...stay ...up ...any ...longer.

Most people here in Grenada don't go for lavish celebrations the way we did in the great white north - likely due to having little money for a very expensive tree, decorations, lights and presents for each other - and so we are feeling a bit guilty about missing those special things here....

But now that we are spending time on this beautiful island, the holidays have a much different feel to them and the traditions that mark the season have changed for us. These days, holiday decorations are put up with the overhead fan spinning at top speed, Christmas lights adorn giant banyan trees (this photo), palm trees or mango trees rather than evergreen trees, or perhaps just some wire wrapped into the shape of a tree from the great white north. Turkey is typically replaced with mahi-mahi or tuna steaks with rice and black-eyed peas, callaloo dishes are common, and pumpkin pies are pushed aside for cassava pies. Our typical Christmas celebrations are replaced with massive parties on our white sandy beach with everyone wearing Santa hats. The holiday spirit can feel a bit unfamiliar here, even fleeting (see our post of November 2, 2017 when Cyndi discusses changing traditions)... But the adventures are new and fresh and full of great times and good friends. This year our New Year's celebrations will include sharing a nice bottle of champagne while standing in the gentle surf watching fireworks at midnight.

So, in lieu of having a typical Christmas here, we decided that we need a little help getting into the festive spirit and have come up with a few ideas about how to get excited about the coming of Santa while living on a sunny rock...

Idea 1... Dress up your dog / cat / lizard / monkey in Christmas gear.

Obviously this comes with a disclaimer – do not do this if they make a move to bite you – most will... always proceed with caution... However, our perfect little doggie (Archie) who now lives with one of our best friends (as he couldn't handle the heat here), has an amazing zero dignity factor in his behavioral quotient and will submit to whatever stupid stuff we might decide would make an appropriate decoration on him. While you can also do this with cats, we would only recommend it for the most relaxed and pliable of felines. Otherwise there will likely be blood, hissing, clawing, shredding, much more blood, and mayhem... clearly not what the holidays are about.

Idea 2... Whine to friends about feeling homesick until they send gifts.

We have had some results with this one but the pony express is always about 3 months late for Christmas. So in the meantime, we stretch out our two strings of battery operated Christmas lights with twinkle settings (six feet long including the battery pack!), and as soon as those beauties go up on our window grill work, our festive spirit swells immeasurably.

Idea 3... Drink heavily and often.

Christmas holiday time everywhere around the world are always an extra big sippy-sip time. Our advice to you is don’t fight it, embrace it. Just a little secret... we do... shhhh... and it doesn’t have to be an all Canadian beer or Canadian Whiskey (although we do like to promote great Canadian stuff), you can happily experiment with all kinds of festive tipples. Things that work here are interesting and tasty - glasses full of spiked eggnog, spiced rum, mulled wine, a "Woowoo" or "Bahama Mama" from Umbrellas Beach Bar, etc... It depends what is available and what time of day it is... (actually the time of day really doesn't have anything to do with it).

We bought Southern Comfort Vanilla Spiced eggnog – fantastic – and it goes down nicely with rum, and appears it will be available until January 1st. We don't really want to suggest that others develop family traditions that are entirely based on alcohol consumption, but it could become a healthy pursuit that encourages bonding between family members. We started something many years ago when a bottle of rum had to be consumed by the family chefs of that year when Danish Aebleskivers were being made at the stove for Danish Little Christmas (Dec 23). There were several incidences of cut fingers, burned hands and blurry eyes along the way but they somehow managed to be prepared and then consumed by all in attendance. However, the culinary quality of our meals that evening seemed to drop sharply, but festive spirit skyrocketed. We don't have a pan here so we just enjoy the photos from the family when they send them.

Idea 4... Eat heavily and often.

Some say the holidays are about peace and tranquility, others think of this season as a time for family.

They are both wrong.

Christmas is definitely a time for eating well beyond the limits, bounds and capacity of normal human gastronomic consumption. We don’t trust people who diet during the holidays - it's just not right... If humans were meant to fit into their skinny jeans during the time between Christmas and New Years, God wouldn’t have made mince pies. Or Christmas rice pudding. Or roast potatoes. Or tasty stuffing. Or gravy by the quart to be poured over three or four pounds of juicy turkey meat.

In lieu of heating up our little kitchen in our small apartment, we made arrangements to have our Christmas dinner cooked for us at one of the nearby resorts: mushroom soup, special Christmas salad, three main courses attended by a chef carver (turkey, roast beef, grilled fish), wild rice, veges, roasted potatoes, shepherd's pie, several tasty desserts choices.. all for CAN$75.00 each.

Idea 5... Play Christmas music on a loop, starting in November.

As soon as Halloween is over, take down the pumpkins, skeletons, spider webs, and turn on the tunes. By the time it gets to be December, your family and friends will want to murder you but you’ll be well into that nice festive feeling. Our all-time favourite Christmas tune is by Kenny Chesney – All I Want For Christmas Is A Really Good Tan. We also like the Christmas album called Monster Ballads with heavy metal Christmas tunes – it rocks! Then throw in some old time favs and classics and we're all set.

However, if all else fails…

If you’ve carefully worked your way through Ideas 1 through 5 but you still aren’t in holiday mode, then we only have one final suggestion: Find family or friends in the great white north and go visit them.... all it takes is a week of shoveling snow and shivering while snot is freezing in layers on your upper lip to immediately cure you of winter nostalgia, and then you find yourself instantly heading south again. Yep.

That usually works for about a year and then it restarts when December rolls around again…

We hope everyone has a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a prosperous 2018!