Anyone who knows me knows what is my favourite time of year! Christmas! 😁

Every year on this day, I start my traditional “100 days till Christmas” countdown. September 16^th.

The funny thing is, even though I love to countdown to the big day itself, it’s really all about the entire season and all that comes with it.

Read on for the 10 reasons why I love Christmas.

1. The Reason for the Season

There are different schools of thought about the origination of the Christmas season. For me, it is all about celebrating Jesus’ birth and what He has done for us. It may not have been His actual birthdate but it is also good to take some time to celebrate Him in an extra special way. 🙌

2. Putting up the Christmas Tree…Sort Of

I made it a point to get a Christmas tree for our first Christmas as a married couple in 2012. The excitement for us to decorate it together was overflowing. But it became very obvious to us both halfway through that I was more into the idea of putting up the Christmas tree. So now our Christmas tree tradition is basically my husband doing the brunt of the work, i.e. actually putting the tree up and stringing the lights (though I do try to help in the beginning but my arms are too short). I do much better at hanging the decorations. You might say it is unfair but I say it is playing to our strengths. 💪

3. Christmas Traditions

Growing up we had a few Christmas traditions – waking up and opening presents together on Christmas morning, visiting relatives in the afternoon and then relatives coming over on Boxing Day to celebrate my mom’s birthday.

Now that we are older and our family has expanded, so too have our traditions. Every year, we try to find fun things to do as a family, whether it be driving around to watch Christmas lights or watching Christmas movies at home. What also became a tradition over the last few years was my husband’s Christmas breakfast feast and of course, us visiting his side of the family in the afternoon!

4. Christmas Food

Which brings me to another yummy thing I love about Christmas – the Christmas food. Nobody does Christmas food better than Trinbagonians. Ham, turkey, pastelles, pigeon peas, bread, pone, black cake, ponche de crème, sorrel – you name it, you will have it for Christmas! Sigh, I am getting so hungry typing this.

My only sorrow is that even though I love Christmas so much, I actually don’t like some of the more traditional Christmas treats like pastelles and fruit cake. My saving grace though came during my pregnancy when I was craving hops and ham! But since I don’t eat pork, we were able to snag one of the last turkey hams. With my husband’s delicious bread, both baby and I were satisfied. I now look forward to it.

For the Love of Pone

I have a funny story about going to a parang “Blocko” lime in 2017 when I was pregnant.  My husband and I had never been to one before. I am not ashamed to say that after the parang, the main thing that drew us to this lime was the promise of pone. Another selling point was that Rome was also filming a Christmas music video at the venue. Ok, count us in!

When we got there, there was really no place to sit, which is a bummer for a pregnant woman entering her second trimester. Even more of a bummer was that we saw no pone in sight and the parang band was having serious technical difficulties. They didn’t start up until 2 hours later (but later, they did a performance with cell phone lights and no audio system that I quite enjoyed). We then heard that you had to be in the music video to get pone. This was no problem for me until I heard what the song was about (ahem, you Trinbagonians know what I am talking about.) Long story short, this pregnant woman sat on a cooler to hide when the camera crew was passing around but she still desperately wanted some pone. Thus, her husband had to take one for the team. The result – see here in the video at 1:12. 😕

5. Christmas Music

So yes, a lot of Trinbagonian Christmas music has some double entendres that I never realised until I was MUCH older but I can’t help but love them. Baron, Crazy, Daisy, Sharlene Flores, Scrunter – their Christmas songs give me life.  I love EVERY Marcia Miranda song. It is not Christmas until I hear “Neighbour, oye yoi yoi, bring out de ham”. Okay, if this song also has a double entendre, please don’t tell me. 😣

Another thing I love to hear around Christmas time is my grandma’s old cassettes. She would start taping songs from the radio and sometimes she would tape one song over the other because she would never check to see if it was a blank cassette. So for a long time, I never knew a full song or I would sing songs like this “Oh la la la, Oh la la la, Oh la la la, mama sita, I ketch you cooking paratha for Santa…jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the wayyyy”. Then you would hear in the middle of a song, 4-year-old me saying “Merry Christmas 1991”.

Also, my intention this year is to go to another parang lime where Rome is not filming a music video. 🙃

6. Christmas Lights and Decorations

Nothing soothes my soul more than driving around and seeing all the Christmas lights and decorations (But only at Christmas time eh people, please take down your lights after Christmas. Lol). A few years aback, two of my neighbours seemed to be in a competition only they knew about. Their houses were opposite each other and it was THE brightest spot in the street. I loved it! But of course, it is only so much you could take on your electricity bill right? I secretly hope they go at it again this year though, I kinda miss it.

I bought these Christmas projector lights two years ago, which is supposed to be easier to put up instead of actual strings of light. We still haven’t done it 🤦‍♀️, fingers crossed for this year.🤞

7. Christmas Movies

Christmas movies are the best! I will watch all the classics like Home Alone (mainly 1 and 2, nothing beyond 3), The Christmas Story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I’ll Be Home for Christmas and even the cheesy ones on Netflix and Hallmark. My ultimate romantic Christmas movies are While You Were Sleeping and Borrowed Hearts. Maybe I could start an action Christmas movie list and add Die Hard.

8. Spending Time with Your Loved Ones

The year can get plenty busy. It feels nice when things are winding down and you get some time to spend with your loved ones. And I don’t mean just your family, but old friends you haven’t seen all year, even celebrating a successful work year with your colleagues (lol, yes they can be loved ones too). People take that extra time to reach out to the people who matter most and to me, that is something to look forward to. 🥰

9. The Gift of Giving

Christmas is not exactly about presents for me, but it is about giving. There is something so beautiful about giving back. You can give back to your community or to people who may not have as much as you. It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant, you can give toys, have a food drive, lend a helping hand, visit the elderly or even just make a phone call to brighten someone’s day. I especially love finding meaningful ways to make someone feel appreciated, even if it means just writing them a heartfelt note or bringing them a small bottle of their favourite coffee.

10. The Christmas Spirit

Last but certainly not the least, I love the Christmas spirit. There is a level of kindness, compassion and humility around this time of year. I mean, I wish this could be prevalent throughout the year but I still appreciate it so much. Witnessing people coming together with love is my favourite thing about Christmas.

It really is the most wonderful time of the year but I also must say that….

A Trini Christmas is de best! 🎉

So what are your favourite things about Christmas? Share in the comments!

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