~The title of this entry is after a classic Caribbean
Christmas song here on the island!
It was that time again for the annual children’s Christmas
party! Being our third year here we figured we had it down pretty good. We brought drinks and snack for the kids,
arrived a little late and it worked out perfect! The entertainment was going on and there are
always lots of friends. This year was
the year of Elmo, Mickey Mouse, Tinkerbelle, and Transformers. We brought friends Niz and Zay to the party
with us! Anike was a home with a broken
foot from having surgery and Eric, her husband, had just broken his leg on the
job! Zay is like the little brother Jase
doesn’t have!
After the kids show they allowed anyone who wanted to have
their picture taken with the characters could.
Court was the only one of my kids that wanted to get a picture, but
there were lot of other little kid who wanted to get their picture taken. The only problem was that there was no on to
take their picture so they would kind of stand in front of the character
wanting a picture not knowing what to do.
To I ended up taking a few pictures of these kids not having anyone to
take a picture of him or her just so they could be happy. I was looking for the pictures but I only
have ones of girls that I know – I must have erased them grrrr.
Santa Clause – the big guest of honor!
Again this year they lined up to get their present, and it
went by really fast this time!
Court got an entertaining video about counting money, Jase hit
the jackpot again and Katie too with MP3 players! And of course being with
friends and Santa is the best!
And again to finish off the party is the insane raffle! Giving out bikes, MP3’s, Kindles, Nintendo
DSI’s, and not just one of each of these big items! At least 3 or 4 of these
items each, but there were about 8 bikes.
We didn’t win anything but it was fun to see some of the friends we know
win! Its always a little bit of a
chaotic party but the kids don’t seam to notice or care, just that they are
having a ton of fun, seeing Santa, and hanging with their friends!
Jase and Katie, over the Christmas break, started taking
their junior open water diver course! In
order to pass this course they have to learn and understand everything an adult
would have to know to pass and complete the course so its not an easy
task. Before they started the hands on
part of the course they spent hours at home reading, watching video’s and
studying the PADI course. Once they got
the first two sections under their belt they were able to start with the equipment. So before Christmas they started the first
few sections of the course at Scubaqua with our well-trusted friend Marieke Van de Wetering who also taught Todd and me.
You wouldn’t just trust anyone with your kids diving underwater!
Here they are learning to handle the equipment they have
studied about.
And now they are dawning on their equipment to get in the
water to try out their underwater skills!
Doing the basic skills, all underwater, of clearing water out of your
mask, removing and replacing your mask, sharing air, removing and replacing
your equipment, clearing your regulator, navigation with a compass, being
neutrally buoyant, my goodness there is so much more that I can’t think of
right now! Practice makes perfect! Marieke did a great job dealing with two
bobbing kids in the water with all their diving gear on!
Going into the ocean for their first water skills! And they
did a fantastic job!
This first picture is of Katie and what she did when she saw
a barracuda on their first water skills lesson!
That afternoon they went for their first dive at a dive site
riding on the diving truck to the boat!
And they did a fantastic job, and Marieke said they are naturals!
Just before the Christmas break I got a call from Hilda
Berkel who runs the Chapel Peace Community centre for the Elderly on the island
to come to associate with each other, play games exercise eat ect.. the place
that the kids sang at before. She asked
if the kids all wanted to sing again for a Christmas program she was putting
together. I said absolutely and gave her
the number of the primary representative from church that was still on the
island. So this is where we are! It ended up that a group of people from
church sang and it was a valiant effort.
We enjoyed signing a variety of Christmas song, some that I didn’t’
know, listened to poems and others sing their hearts out.
This man here has a form of disability but wanted to share a
sweet song with everyone and was so proud of himself. We see him walking all over town all the
time, but I don’t know his name.
And this sister was grooving to the music of the Killy Killy
(named after the Island’s national bird) band with Hilda! The Band is absolutely fantastic!! We want to
pick up a CD of theirs! They play with banjos, guitars, tambourines, ukuleles,
a washboard tin of sorts, and some instruments I have never see before!
Here we are singing our family rendition, right out of the
church hymnbook, Joy To the World and Angels we have heard on high.
Thanks to Olga Schats for taking a picture with our camera!
Here is a little side story:
A family tradition on my side of the family is to go
caroling on Christmas eve to our friends.
This year we decided as a family that we would carry on that tradition
and go caroling to some of our friends on the island. We went on a few different nights to spread
out the singing load and had a most marvelous time! We brought cookies, my grandma Bishops
recipes, and gifts, the video Joy To The World & The Proclamation to the
Family, to some of our friends. We tried
to get as many as we could. It was a
wonderful experience singing with our children about our love and thankfulness
for our Savior Jesus Christ at this special time of year; and our friends could
feel that too. We sang Joy to the World,
Angels we have Heard on High, and Silent Night. Some of them told us that they
could feel peace and joy as they listened to the words of the music – music
they haven’t heard for years – and we said to some it is the Spirit telling you
these words are true. This opportunity was truly a blessing for us as a family
to grow closer together, and hopefully a blessing for those we were able to
touch.
So we felt is quite fitting to sing our songs when Hilda
asked for anyone who wanted to do a little number to go ahead and share.
And after was some great food cooked by none other that our
friend Philomena who works as the centre’s Chef! Followed by music dancing and
visiting.
Pic 40 – 45 – add in words
This sweet lady walked right up to Courtney took her hands and started dancing with her! It was so cute!
Katie with Savannah & Hayley.
Courtney with her friend from school Nicole!
Christmas time crafts at the Centre for Youth and
Family! They always have some really
fantastically fun ideas of crafts for the kids to do! We brought some friends down with us to do
crafts and hang out for the day! Sarah, Niz & Zay!
The boys and most of the girls opted for the candle in the
spray painted jar whish looked really cute with all the decorations they could
decorate with and pick their color of candle and spray painted jar.
But Court wanted to do something different – follow her own
path and chose to do a tree ornament thingy – I’m not sure what it’s called but
it’s really cute. Shw was working so
carefully to get it just right!
The finished product – with her classmate from school
Maqure who did the same craft as she did!
Everyone’s finished products
And while we were there Ineke Schram came up to us after a trip
to the Netherland and visited with our friends Judith, Saunders, and Beau
Fijma! Beau had send these postcards
home with Ineke and asked her to deliver them to Zay and Jase! What a sweet surprise for the boys!
So one day during the Christmas break we are sitting in the
house, just the girls and I, and we hear this boom, boom, thud, thud, boom boom
– and we couldn’t figure out what it was at first. Then we start hearing loud music - sounding
like it was getting closer and closer so we knew we had to jump in the car and go
check it out! Lucky for us we did
because it was what I call an instant parade!
They don’t advertise or let you know when it is going on you just hear
the loud music as it drives around the island hitting most of the major streets
louring you with its music! This time it
was Santa in a truck surrounded by elves throwing tons of treats to those who
come out and see them. Oh my goodness it is so fun! We were laughing and catching the treats –
not cheap treats by the way – even packages of low fat snacks for the adults –
we even recognizes a few of the elves on the trucks. (Ibo for one – the
maintenance man who helps to look after Katies school.) A little instant parade
to give you a little instant joy!
We have some super great people we have met on the island
who do so much for us its hard to keep up. Debbie had to go to Columbia to the Doctor
leaving Jose working hours on end and the possibility of Sarah at home alone a
lot without her Mommy there for her. So
of course we had her over whenever she needed to be – they do so much for
us! And they still insisted on taking us
out for dinner. These people truly are
selfless – I try to learn from them as much as I can! What a nice evening. And Sarah bought them
all Christmas gifts with her own money.
We had another great evening with some friends of ours the
Hunters. Todd had helped them on a few
occasions – he fixed their daughters computer and Grant was so sweet and helped
scrub our ceiling beams, what Todd was doing when Grant called for help, while
Todd worked from the computer to the beams.
This last time he helped fix their cistern from leaking all of their
water out. They are another fantastic
family we have gotten to know and they also felt they wanted to take us out for
dinner. Its mostly Todd I would have to
say but I guess you could argue as some have said to me that I’m letting him go
and fending for myself more often.?
Anyway we are blessed and grateful for great friends! We even went to a dinner and a show –
watching the bats, rats, and cats climbing and swooping in the trees above
us! Even leaving me with a party favor
of bat crap on my head and jacket! It was
pretty funny!!
It is always fun decorating a gingerbread house and most satisfying
watching them decorate one you have made from scratch. My grandma Bishops family recipe! You can’t
buy the premade gingerbread houses from the store here so if you want to make
one you have to do it yourself! We made
one the first Christmas we were hear but ran out of time on the second year but
had to do it this year! Our friend Sharique
had joined us for the day coming to church with us, where he said it was
different but nice, and hanging out all Sunday to make our house with us! It was really nice having him here! I don’t
think he has made one before. Todd
helped the kids with the icing bag – made out of wax paper so its fragile - and
they ate and stuck on a ton of treats! Fun!!
We then went looking at some Christmas light around the
island. There are some fantastic ones
out there.
Christmas eve has come real soon! We decided again this year to open our home for a Christmas Eve party with some great people - a lot of them who are away from home without family to be with. The Tidmarshes, Hunters, Rodriguez, Hilda Doek (Katies school teacher), and the Wolseys. We made some goat with potatoes and carrots, homemade mushroom soup – thanks to Anike for the recipe to die for! -, spinach dip, Mud buddies, had lot of pop and water to drink and home made apple cider! So good! Plus everyone brought some amazing food to share! Twas’ a night to feast!
We had a little mini program where whoever wanted to share a
Christmas song, poem, thought ect. they could.
We had some great singing by a bunch of different people. Katie and Sarah sang some Dutch songs that
teacher Hilda has taught them in school and some Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer,
Britney, Savannah and Hayley Hunter sang a beautiful round of a Mary, Mary song
– I’d love to learn it! , Courtney did her own little solo of Go Tell it on the
Mountain, we had a Feliz Navidad, we as a family sang Silent Night, and Camille
Tidmarsh shared a wonderful short story/poem from the point of view from Mary,
Jesus’ Mother, and a sad dream she had about people forgetting the reason why
Christmas is truly celebrated – beautiful and thoughtful story.
Piñata Time! It is a
tradition in Todd family to have a piñata on Christmas Eve and we thought it
would be a lot of fun with all the little kids we were going to have at the
party! I think they had a fantastic time! I love how the little ones would just come up
to the box and tap it a little bit with the bat like little Liam and Remmy! You can see on their faces, “Are you serious
– I can whack this thing with this bat?
What about all of the do not hit lectures! – Awesome!” It was great
fun! We only had the string break twice
by pipes Hayley J
and then big Matt finally broke it open!
Jingle, Jingle, Ho, Ho Hoooooo Merry Christmas! While
singing some fun Christmas songs Santa Clause came to town! The Rodriguez’s
went above and beyond the call of duty to get Santa from his busy schedule
tonight to come and say hi to the kids!!
Lucky us!! Remmy was scared to death and hid in the corner, we all tried
not to laugh poor thing, but the rest of them were super excited! Even the big kids! This was a big tradition in my family to
always have Santa come on Christmas Eve! We love Santa!! Thank you for coming!!
(If only my pictures weren’t so blurry – boo!)
The tradition of the Nativity is done every year in our home
much like pretty much every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints you might meet. Whether it is
read from the scriptures or acted out, read and sang – it is celebrated. This
is why we have Christmas to celebrate the birth and life of our Savior Jesus
Christ. It is always fun for the kids
when we act out this special time in the world giving the kids the chance to
pick who they want to be, Mary, Joseph, Angel, Shepherd, animal, Wiseman – it
makes it fun and memorable for them. We
always act, read, and sing the coordinating Christmas songs with the
scriptures. For instance when the angels
appear to the Shepherd we sing ‘While Shepherd watch their Flock by Night’ and
‘Angels we have heard on High’, or we sing ‘When Joseph went to Bethlehem’, as
we read about their journey to Bethlehem.
We always close off with ‘Silent Night’, which always leaves a feeling
of peace and joy in the room. It was so
wonderful to be able to share this special time and feeling with our friends.
For fun the Hunter Family, I’m not sure if it every year,
but they brought their face paint to help get everyone into character. Courtney being Mary got an extra special look
I’m not sure how exactly she felt about it but it stayed on. And we had a
fantastic Joseph, some fabulous animals, Shepherds, Angels, Wise men and
special baby Jesus! Thanks for making it so memorable!
And the party is still going with a White Elephant Gift
exchange! Todd’s family always plays this
game every Christmas and lot of our friends who came this night do it too. Basically you buy some not so expensive gifts
– depending on your rules, one representing each person in your family, some
nicer than others with a wide variety and you play a game of exchange not
knowing what is wrapped up. There are
different rules for different people some open the gift before the start
exchanging them. Anyway at the end of
the game you open your gift and find out what you got. It could be that the gift everyone was ‘fighting’
over because it was wrapped so nice and looked so big might not be as good as
the one that no one seamed interested in!
It’s a lot of fun the kids love it and everyone goes home with a gift.
It was a wonderful Christmas Eve with friends, food, fun,
faith and fond memories!
My favorite part is when it all quiets down and we have some
time just as our little family to be together and continue our evening of
family traditions.
Each of the kids sit down on Daddy’s knee and open their
Christmas Eve book.
I swear Jase's favorite gift every year is a book!
It been tricky these last few years trying to get things for
Christmas – you have to plan way in advance.
I planned and had everything shipped to the island on the school
container by mid-August but it made the weeks before Christmas much more
enjoyable rather than the usual mad race before.
For their pajamas this year we bought them Sint Eustatius
shirt as keep sakes from the island. It
already looks like they might have grown out of them by the time we leave
anyway! So they just might get a new
one. After Books, Pj’s and Todd reading ‘The Night Before Christmas’ its off to
bed in hopes that St. Nicolas soon will be here!
CHRISTMAS MORNING!
I forgot to take a picture of the loot before they came out
– bummer – but it was so fun to see how happy and excited they were!
Katie! She cashes out with a brand new DSI XL, and Roller
Blades. A few trinkets in her stocking,
nail polish, MASH nail stamping stuff – to share with Court & nail
stickers.
Courtney got a super awesome Justin Beber singing toothbrush
that is always playing while she brushes her teeth, a massive make-up box that
with play her MP3 music, a fancy music jewelry box, and a color changing
Barbie!
And the girls both got one so they can play in the pool with
their Barbie’s together! They have a lot
of fun doing that!
Jase got a giant helicopter, a mini helicopter, (after we
found out how hard it was to fly the big one – it was on back up) Stuff for his
DSI XL, and a few different model kits and assembling tools.
Instructions all in Chinese!?
Gift opening!
Jase one day soon will have his very own room!!
Katie was very sweet to buy her brother and sister some little gifts with her own money.
And she found this last minute gift for Daddy on Christmas morning!
Scubasigns! Written & pictures taken by our very own dive instructors Marieke & her husband Mike!
Can't fogey Statia!
Treat form Tony and Leontine!
Swimming with the Barbies already on Christmas Morning!
It was a wonderful Christmas morning!
Earlier on Christmas Eve we got a call from some friends
that we have met here, Greg and Lavern David.
Lavern the principle of the SDA School, and Greg runs the Duggins
Hardware store. Todd has spent time
visiting with Greg and the spent a Saturday cleaning out their cars
together. They are a fantastic family!
So they called us to ask if we would like to join them on Christmas afternoon
for a HUGE Christmas dinner! It was really nice meeting a lot f their family
form other islands, and many who we have met already here on Statia! They have a huge family and an amazing Mother
who is an amazing cook! She has of
course taught her daughters some of the tricks of her trade and together we had
a most amazing meal!
Food prep!
Pic 158
Hanging out, and Lavern playing with the girls with one of
those baby alive dolls – let me tell you we were all fascinated!!
Todd talking with the guys!
Its time to eat some amazing local Christmas food! I wish I could remember them names of some of
the food there, but all I really remember is that is was so good.
Kids hanging with the kids downstairs after we were all fed
and full! And with some of the ladies in the kitchen where they wouldn’t let me
lift a finger! (Laverns Mom, Me, Debora, I can’t remember her name, and Lavern)
It was so wonderful of Lavern and Greg to invite us to join
in with their family and making us feel so special! We really appreciate their
friendship and kindness!
The celebration just doesn’t end quite yet! We went to a Christmas party at Debbie and
Jose’s house! Complete with a big pig roast started in the early morning hours
of about 4 am if I’m correct! There is
always good, food, friends, entertainment and the kids always love going to
Miss Debbie’s!
Silly girls! Both giving each other bunny ears but looking so innocent!
Visiting with Maike and Roel.
Playing some sort of hid and seek running game.
On our way home from a wonderfully filled Christmas day we
drove down town to look at a few lights!
And that was our last Christmas on Statia – I think we made
it a good one.
