Christmas in Belize

Imagine Christmas without external pressure. No store aisles with Christmas decorations on or before Halloween. No constant messages to buy, buy, buy! No conflict between religious and secular celebrations. Christmas without guilt that you haven’t met someone else’s expectations – which have been generated in part by rampant commercialism. It is possible in Placencia to celebrate Christmas as much, or as little, as you wish, and however you wish to do it..


And what a nice holiday I’ve had! My focus for the last several weeks has been on the move into my new abode, packing and moving my stuff, purchasing fixtures, appliances and furniture, and then waiting for the fixtures to be installed, and the great room to be painted off-white and dark red to replace the pink. Here are some photos of the inside, taken from various vantage points:

The owner bought a wonderful stove with my assistance, a gas stove with a gas convection oven. It was finally installed on Saturday the 18th. Since then, I’ve made two batches of cookies, buttermilk biscuits, two apple pies and a sour cream coffee cake. So nice to have a good oven!

Although I have three totes of Christmas decorations I brought with me from the states, I only got out my reindeer, pictured here, and a moose that sings jingle bells when you squeeze its paw. Next year I’ll probably do more, but it has been nice spreading the gift of fine baked goods instead of store bought stuff.

So my celebration started several days ago with my baking. On Wednesday eve I maintained my personal tradition of watching a video that was first shown on PBS some years ago; a wonderful adaptation of Dylan’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales. In addition to the text, it is a visual and audible treat. The afternoon of Christmas Eve I baked two apple pies and the biscuits, and took a pie and the biscuits to Bradley’s house for Christmas dinner. It didn’t turn out to be a sit-down type dinner, but was more a serve yourself deal, in part because there were several other people who had been invited over, and there was a lot of drinking going on.


Here's a photo of the operations manager of our butane biusiness
:

I left at about 9 PM, and went home to wrap gifts until midnight. I chose to wrap everything twice because the only gift wrap left when I finally got around to buying it was transparent. So I had to pre-wrap to hide contents, and then wrap for decorative effect.

Christmas morning I rose early and made a sour cream coffee cake (thank you Georgia’s friend Jill!) and took it to Bradley’s. I enjoyed having Christmas in a house dominated by three small kids. Here are some photos:

(The adults in these pictures are Rilda, Bradley's wife, and Patti, my ex-wife.)

By 10:30 or so all the gifts had been distributed and opened, and it was time to head home. It was nice to return to a quiet space. Christmas afternoon I joined a small group of ex-pats in Placencia for a fine Christmas dinner, punctuated with my other apple pie. Then home again at 5 or 6, and another enjoyable evening at home with my new books, A Ship of Fools from my good friends Mikki and David, and The Hemingses of Monticello from stepdaughter (?) Kevan.

Most of my time at home has been accompanied by music- as I mentioned in my last post the acoustics are wonderful, and I’ve been enjoying my wide-ranging Christmas music collection.

Today, Saturday, I have finished arranging stuff in my abode, finding places to put stuff. It’s nice to have it near done. This afternoon a flock of pink flamingos landed in my yard, and I had a chance to snap a photo:

So that’s been my Christmas. Wonderfully mellow. I haven’t missed the snow, or the disappointment at the lack of snow, that marked the first 63 years of my life.

I've moved!

What a wild few weeks! We’ve been very busy at work, cash flow has been a bit weak, requiring extra effort to bill clients for work done, and we have multiple projects in progress. And that’s the least of it. Won’t have internet at home for another month or more, a real inconvenience, especially when it comes to posting here.


Moving into an unfinished, unfurnished house has been its own challenge. Took one two day trip to Belmopan, Orange Walk and Belize City to buy all the lighting fixtures and fans, three mirrors, and paint to replace the pink in the great room, in Belmopan, then on to Orange Walk to a furniture manufacturer called New River Enterprises where I happened to be there at the start of an as yet unpublicized sale, and while I spent more than I had intended, I acquired some really nice furniture, including a coffee table with a Myan relief carved surface.

Then on to Belize City to spend the night at an inn owned by a Belgian ex-pat, and the next day to select a refridgerator, washing machine and stove, and get another gallon of red paint for the south wall of the great room. Also bought a box spring for my bed to be.


Hit a few grocery stores, bought 10 boxes of chocolate pudding mix (the kind you cook) and all the jars Bertolli Alfredo with Mushrooms sauce the store had displayed (about 8), and assorted other sundries not available in Placencia. My friend Bob accompanied me, helping greatly in navigating in Belize City, and providing good company. Ran out of butane to power the truck while there, and discovered I also had only drops of gasoline. As luck would have it, just enough to get into a gas station, when it died as I was making a turn to line up with a pump. Had to push it backwards to line up with a pump, which took extra effort because it was fully loaded with fixtures and furniture.


When I got home from that trip I had an email from a person telling me that a group order for quality mattresses had fallen through. Very irritating, because I had just been in Belize City, and could have shopped for one. It all turned out ok, because I was able to buy one direct from the factory, and pick it up on a return trip to get the box spring the following week. The mattress is top end – a firm mattress with “pillow top” on both sides – good for my back and my circulation. Paid $786 BZD, or $393 USD. Same thing factory direct in Portland would have been $800 or $900 USD. Now having slept on it for a few nights, I’m very pleased.

On that return trip selected a stove because the one selected earlier was not available. Did some additional shopping, and got a piece of plate glass for the coffee table, but the highlight of the trip was going to the Belize Zoo. It is a remarkable place. I’ll devote more to it in a future post.

We are a few days from Christmas, and with the stove finally installed two days ago, I baked rolled Christmas cookies tonight. Listening to a wide variety of Christmas music, and I must say, the acoustics of the great room are outstanding. The combination of being so busy, and being in a tropical climate, and moving, and the lack of commercialism pounding the holiday into my psyche, a left me dealing with it on a last minute basis, and not really worrying about it.

Must close this now, but will try to get back into the habit now that I’ve settled into my new abode in Maya Beach.

Be well, stay warm, and have a happy holiday!

Moving in 6 days!

I suppose most people in cultures that celebrate festivals of one sort or another at this time of year are quite busy at this point, and I am no exception, but for a different reason.  I've been living in my ex-wife's apartment, and she committed last week to coming to Belize a week from tomorrow, or on Tuesday, December 15th.  That means I have to move to my new abode, which at this point has no lights, fans or appliances.  So I spent two days last weekend going to the major (for Belize) towns of Belmopan, Orange Walk and Belize City getting fixtures, furniture and appliances.   Had to get a two burner counter top stove because the really wonderful stove the owner has ordered won't be here for 4 to 6 weeks.  That means I can't do my Christmas baking, unless I am offered a kitchen elsewhere.

I have been very busy packing up and moving stuff every day.  The first two loads were primarily containers I had not unpacked because there was not enough room in the apartment.  Now I have to really pack.  Also have to prepare multiple govt reports which are due early next week, because i'll be moving over the weekend.

Not sure how often I'll be able to post in this process, but wanted to note how peculiar it is for this northern New Englander to be celebrating Christmas in a tropical climate.  Christmas and snow related music like Jingle Bells,  gold snowflakes hanging in the bank, and other elements of Christmas just don't seem to fit.  Belize City was full of it, but Placencia,  which is a very laid back place, has it on a very subdued level.

Time to pack.  Will keep you posted.