Almost Christmas

Christmas Activities: But first

Jase figured out how to blow bubbles with his hand and dish soap. He taught his sisters to do it too.






This is just the meat, the white stuff, of a coconut. Todd cracked the husk and the hard shell around the actual meat and it popped out just like this. We figured it was a once and a life time things, and them the next 3 did it also! What are the olds. We thought it was pretty cool.



Thefun for them. Courtney brought salt and vinegar Pringle chips to share and had a wonderful time eating treats and playing with her friends. I love these pictures of her. You can see that her class opens right up to the outdoors all day every day. That’s one thing I love about here is that everything is so fresh at school with it being so open.



These pictures are of Court and a little friend of hers named Sidnay, and her teacher Tr. Cheryl.




In Jase’s class they had a secret Santa, and Jase got this super cute purse for a little girl and he go a fun game set which includes, bowling, basketball, pool, soccer, golf… I think that’s it. But I stayed and visited with the kids for a while, this one little girls didn’t want me to go she wanted me to stay and play with them. So we played! I also loved what her mother had done with her hair so I asked if I could take a picture of it.





Katie was also invited to join in the party at the SDA school for the class that she would have been in. I’ve said over and over how much Tr. Debra loved her and this is another moment. – getting to join in with their party. Tr. Debra had kept it a surprise for the class, and the kids were so excited to see her!



Do you recognize this picture??



The above picture is a picture painted by one of the world renound LDS (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) artist. This, and quite a few other paintings by LDS artist, were used in the kids Christmas program and have been used, along with other LDS artwork, in their different programs, Todd and I thought this was interesting, Especially the most famous LDS painting of our Savior in His red robes titled “The Lord Jesus Christ” by Del Parson. A prophet has said to the world that this painting resembles our Savior more than any other painting in the world. And that includes all the other LDS artists’ depictions of our Savior. This is beautiful, and to our family it is so true; I hope you love it as much as we do.




Here are some pictures of Jase and Courtney’s program. It was done during school hours which was great for me, and Todd was finished by the, but the majority of people couldn’t come see their kids preform which was a little sad. I was a fantastic program none the less. Courtney’s class recited some Christmas poems, we were practicing them every night before the program, and sang “Go tell it on the Mountain”. Jase’s class sang a Dutch Christmas song and he was also invited to participate in a bell choir! We were so proud of him and he did a fantastic job of playing his bell on time. Over all very fun and entertaining!






For Katie’s Christmas party they went out to eat at a fancy restaurant called ‘Blue Bead’! She was pretty excited about that! I’m sure they had a wonderful time; I just snap these pictures just before I took her home. She loves going to the terminal School with all of the fun things only a small school can do! She is doing remarkably well in school by the way all 90’s with the odd 80 sometime. I had no idea she was so quick and clever!



These next few pictures have quite a story behind them. I will start out with what was supposed to happen. Katie’s school was personally invited to participate in the Statia Santa Clause red and white Parade and they were also invited to participate in the musical program after the parade on the city centre stage. The kids had been practicing for weeks on a Dutch Christmas song, Oh Christmas Tree, and Katie had her own solo part because her accent is so good and she’s a great singer! So the group gets there to participate wearing what red and white clothing they had in their closets. As you can see by the picture not everyone has exactly just plain red or plane white clothing. There are some jeans and pictures on shirts but you try the best you can. But unfortunately what they had wasn’t good enough. The kids own teacher was told she couldn’t participate because her ‘white’ pants actually had a faint cream tinge to them. Then they proceeded to tell the kids they couldn’t participate because they were not dressed properly. Not that there is a JC Penny, or a Wal-Mart around the corner to get the ‘proper’ clothes. Anyway unfortunately it was a lot worse than what I’m making it out to be on this blog but the people who were organizing this were definitely not thinking about the main purpose of uniting a community already struggling for unity, but making it a struggle for power. And most unfortunately a group of really sweet kids trying their best in spirit and song to enjoy the Christmas season were extremely disappointed and went home in tears instead of smiles. The situation actually made it into the newspaper however I didn’t get to read it. This was the very first time I had been extremely disappointed during my stay here in Statia.




Katie and Nikki. At least Katie got a Santa beard out of it!!




We were so proud of Jase being chosen to participate in the school bell choir! They chose the kids on class behavior and musical skills! This had been a wonderful experience for him as he is not publicly outgoing. He also has a fantastic singing voice but not many people know because he is so shy, even though he sang solo’s with Katie in front of almost 200 people when he was 5 years old, and Katie was 4! He again had a wonderful performance at this invitational music festival. He even got a free t-shirt from participating in the Statia’s Youth Musicians Christmas Concert! Their bell song was Carol of the Bells.



Santa Clause came to town – this time in a sleigh. But before Santa made his appearance we also had a special show by Blues Clues, Dora, Swipper, Diego, and Bob the Builder! Jase and Katie were older but I think they still enjoyed watching the show. Court really liked it! It was one of those show people pay quite a bit of money for sometimes to go and see, and we saw it for free! It was pretty hot standing in the sun for a lot of the time but the kids didn’t seem to mind they enjoyed their friends and the show.





Ho, Ho, Ho… Ho, Ho, Ho, how did Santa get here!? These are the first lines to a very popular Christmas song that they play on the island!



There are so many kids waiting for their gift from Santa they actually don’t get to see Santa. They have the kids line up in their ages and gender and wait to get their presents from some Santa helpers. Some of these pictures give you an idea of what it is like.

This is Court and Azaria






Katie & Niz


A boy Jase knows from the beach but he can't remember his name, Jase and Sharique



And there goes Santa in his sleigh! Thanks Debbie and kids for sharing Santa with Statia!



It is always a busy, loud, hot day but the kids love it and that’s all that matters!

Christmas came a little early for me this year. Todd had a local friend of his, who was in St. Maarten for a few days, pick up a lens for our camera. I have to admit it is a little intimidating and takes some getting use to, but its nice. I find you can’t really use it in tight enclosed places, you need a lot of room between you and the subject so I switch back and forth when I think I need to. I don’t know if you can tell the difference between the pictures on this blog but you can on the computer. Anyway throughout the rest of this entry and I’m sure the remainder of our time here you might notice some ‘fancy’ pictures we’ve tried to take. The lens really makes a difference almost anyone could be a fancy photographer, with the right equipment and for sure the knowhow – which we really need to work on!





We went delivering a few plates of Christmas treats to some friends and Kermit was the only one home or available to take a picture with us. Kermit has been a very good friend to us, giving us legs of lamb and goat to cook up. He heards goats, sheep, and lambs with his quad on the opposite side of the island from where we live, over by the terminal. They roam free and are very tasty! Kermit is a wonderful man, and always very friendly to all those around him, and his family is wonderful too. He’s the one that gave Todd his statia nick name “Statia Man”.






These are some classic Statia Christmas breads that we received from a few different people for a gift. They are a kind of firm dry bread with a few spices in it, not many, and some raisins. They really are pretty to look at.




This year the kids were again off to the family and Youth Centre to make and decorate Christmas candles. I had on my fancy lens and this is where I found out that distance was a necessity! So I didn’t quite get the pictures I wanted, but I got some that worked. There were other friends here that we can’t see in the pictures, The Tolmans, and Becketts, but we were all there having a nice time together. This first picture is Jase with his friend Beau. They been good buddies ever since we got to the island. His mom Judith (pronounced ‘youdith’) is so sweet and wonderful with the kids and those she works with at the Youth and Family centre. She was the one who reminded me about the candle decorating activity.







Then for a little Christmas spirit we went driving around the island – like last year - to see some of the awesome lights that people have on their houses. There are some houses with your lights here and there like most people, but there are these few that are so fun to look at!










The kids wanted to go in the following picture, and then they said they wanted to join in with the shepherds and wise men worshiping the baby Jesus. To me this is one of my favorite Christmas pictures. Its not perfect, but precious.




And then you’ve got to get a picture with the Statia Santa Clause!



It was a beautiful night, after looking at some lights, we were walking around as a family enjoying each others company and the warm evening, we ran into some local friends. They were just finishing up a get together of sorts singing Christmas songs on the stage down mainstreet. We didn’t know what song they were singing but it was nice to just stop and visit for a moment. We recognized most of the people on the stage but we know Vilma Rivers. We stayed in her house when we first arrived in Statia. So sweet and kind, and she loves the kids. She is in the back right corner of this picture. We will need to get a better one of her soon, this one is kind of blurry.




And finally Todd and his biggest catch yet! He was out fishing with Steve Beckett, and Dustin Tollman and got this sucker! He was really proud of his catch and it tasted really good too! Not fishy but more like one of those fish that taste like chicken! ****************





It was me that wanted the picture in front of the Christmas tree – I made him!