BYOB (Bring Your Own Baby)

Because babies are delicious, and I'm not sharing my Baby-Q with you.

Tonight is Christmas Eve. And tomorrow, Christmas. Best day ever for many kids. I'm not even gonna pretend that Christmas as we celebrate it is a religious celebration, because we all know it isn't. It has a long history of being based on different religious celebrations, but I know that my family doesn't celebrate it for that reason. America has turned it into a CELEBRATION, and the hell with us needing a reason for it. Let it be known that although I'm certainly not christian, I celebrate christmas full-heartedly. It's a great reason to spend time with the people I love, and to give gifts, and i <3 giving gifts. Christmas now, since I live in the states now, is a very family oriented ordeal. Nearly all of my mom's immediate family lives in-state, and so we all commute to my grandmother's house and have a giant family christmas. It's fantastic. I missed out on all the family stuff for the years I was in the Caribbean, and although i've been back for almost 10 years now, I still rejoice in having family to celebrate with.

As a kid, I wouldn't have been able to tell you why Christmas was as awesome as it was. It was the best time in the world, and I had no idea why. It wasn't the presents, and it wasn't the religious stuff (b/c that didn't exist for me in the islands really). I think it was the magic of it all. The tree with the sparkly decorations, and the food (i used to make mom make sugar cookies so we could decorate them), and the cards that we were allowed to decorate with glitter. And best of all, there was the whole Santa Clause mystery. I could never figure that guy out. Why did he come deliver presents? I finally figured it was just magic. It was all figurative; like santa didn't really drive to everyone's house. He just teleported presents to everyone. One minute they weren't there, and then BAM! presents. Then I found out santa wasn't real, and that broke my heart. Such is a child's life.
Since coming back to the states, I've seen a lot of christmases in a lot of different places and houses. The pine trees, the wreaths, electric candles in the windows, icicle lights in the hope that one day NC will get snow... I understand now why my grandparents were horrified that mom had decided to raise me and nathan in the caribbean. Everything fits here into some sort of order. You do certain things, and things happen in a definite way. On St. John...

In the islands, we don't have pine trees. Christmas-tree quality evergreens are imported and cost a fortune. True islanders get their own christmas trees. Year after year, we eagerly awaited the day when we would all load into the back of the jeep and set off into the hills in search of our perfect tree. Tree here is not an accurate word, since what we were really looking for was a flowering dead stalk from a yucca called a Century Plant. These are tall (upwards of 7 feet) dry branchy stalks with clusters of seed pods. They look NOTHING like anything you've ever seen. After we spotted the perfect Christmas Stalk, we'd pull over on the side of the road, the menfolk would grab their machetes, and we'd bushwhack our way up the mountainside, and then hack it down. Returning victorious to the jeep, we'd strap it to the top with hi-tech bungi cords, and drive home in high spirits. Once home, we'd set up the Christmas Stalk and festoon it with christmas ornaments and garlands and lights.
Christmas morning found us opening presents under the Stalk, running around half-naked with our new toys, and then heading to the beach for a swim in the afternoon.

Tomorrow morning will find me inevitably cold, tired, and on the road to Jackson NC. If you've never been to Jackson, you're better off that way. But my family will be there, and no matter what, I love them. It will be a great day. But, just between you and me, I'd rather be opening presents under a Stalk, and then swimming in the ocean.

Happy Holidays!!!!!