News & Views: Holiday Madness, BVI Style
The holidays have arrived in Tortola, and although I was in denial for a long time (who wants to hear Christmas music at Halloween?) I am now in full holiday mode, ready to celebrate them all – whether it’s Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa. I’d do Diwali, but that was in October.
I have mailed presents up to family in the US. I like to give gifts that say (not literally) “BVI”. Something created here whether spices, soap or a calendar. The key, though, is to make sure the gifts are small enough so the postage doesn’t cost more than the actual present. Do people calculate the worth of a present from the BVI as intrinsically more expensive than one bought from Walmart or Amazon once you factor in the cost of living here and the cost of postage?
I bought Christmas cards as well. Sending Christmas cards are a leftover tradition from a bygone era. Almost no one sends them anymore (to me anyway). They send email greetings, or e-cards from one of several companies that used to print cards but find it more profitable to get people to spend $10 or $15 annually on a subscription. So, I’m going to do both. It will be a hierarchy. The closest relatives and friends will get a paper card and the rest on my list will get e-cards. Those at the bottom of this hierarchy may get neither – kind of the holiday version of unfriending.
I also know it’s Christmas because I have an urge to clean cupboards, storerooms and closets, even though no guests will ever go into them. But that’s what my mother did, my husband’s mother and all my friends’ mothers did, so it is a tradition that must be carried on. My husband seems to have caught this holiday spirit in the form of home improvements. So weeks before Christmas, all the furniture was in the middle of the house and he and a carpenter embarked on a major renovation in the front of the living room. I have faith that the house will be put back together before the big day, leaving me time to put out my miniature Norfolk pine, poinsettias, tinsel and tree baubles – decorations I keep downstairs in a box that otherwise accumulates dust for 50 or so weeks of the year.
Although the last thing I needed were more Christmas decorations, I bought several at a craft stall at Christmas in the City – formerly Christmas on Decastro Street, formerly Christmas on Main Street. But whatever it is named it is still a lovely tradition that gets people in the holiday spirit, and it worked for me. I bought gifts that I didn’t know I needed and enjoyed the music, and holiday vibes.
On December 24th I plan to fill the house with Christmas music. I hope to commune with family and friends, eat a lot, and more than anything, appreciate the joyousness of this special and spiritual time of year.
Oh yes, and then, in another seven days, it will be New Year madness. It’s been a rough few years for the BVI and i have my sights on a new year without hurricanes and covid. A year of peace and prosperity for all.
– Claudia Colli
