‘I knew I was going to miss my J’can Christmas!’

Thirty-two years after migrating to the United States (US), Andrea Holmes-Seymour still agitates for a return to a Christmas that she had got used to while living in Jamaica.

For her, and so many other Jamaicans, Christmas in Jamaica is like Christmas nowhere else. It is special, indeed and if you grew up enjoying the festivities at home, once you move away it’s hard not to miss the fun.

So, back in December 1992, when Holmes-Seymour was to migrate to the US, it wasn’t a particularly easy decision to make.

Prior to that, she had graduated from Westwood High School at the young age of 16, which denied her entry to CAST (now the University of Technology), as they deemed her too young. She was told to reapply the following year but she didn’t bother as by then she had picked up a job.

As a daughter of a police officer, she moved with her family to wherever her dad was placed, which meant leaving her home town of Ocho Rios in St Ann to live in Gayle, St Mary; Montego Bay, St James and Salt Marsh, Trelawny, before finally getting the opportunity to migrate.

“I left Jamaica in December of 1992, right before Christmas, fortunately and unfortunately,” she told The Gleaner on Tuesday, from her base in Florida.

“Fortunately, I was about to be reunited with my parents and other siblings, but unfortunately, because I was going to miss Christmas in Jamaica.”

“I miss everything about a Jamaican Christmas!” she confessed, with emphasis on everything. “I’m not so sure if I would enjoy it as much today as I did growing up, because Jamaica has drastically changed since I left.”

But the number one thing Holmes-Seymour misses about a Jamaican Christmas?

“That would be a tie. The Christmas breeze and the vibe! Those are what I miss! The breeze ushers in that vibe. It’s kind of hard to explain it. It’s somewhat the same ... you know when they say Jamaica is not a place ... it’s a vibe? Something like that. Closer to Christmas, the air is different, then the whole vibe changes. The cleaning, all the preparations ... the movement!”

Christmas in her household was always about family, she admitted.

“It was the time my mother, especially, looked forward to having all her children home. All seven of us, because one lived in the US at the time. That was Christmas for us! If we didn’t get gifts it really didn’t matter because we were together.

“In my household, my mom and the helpers prepared the house. My father and my brother Junior were responsible for cutting down the Christmas tree and my sister Pat and I were the decorators of the tree.

“When I was much younger and lived in St Mary, by the time we set the tree on the verandah and decorated it, folks from the Salvation Army, and every kid in the neighbourhood would stop by our house and wait for us to join them as they continued carolling.

“By the time we returned home, the sample cake and sorrel would be ready. One of the hams was done and we made ham sandwiches with fresh hard dough bread.”

Christmas shopping

Then there were the trips during the season.

One year the family rented a car and left Ocho Rios for Kingston to do Christmas shopping.

“We would park the car at Central Police Station and leave my dad there all day. We then went down to the shopping area, King Street an all ‘bout, Woolworth, don’t know if it’s still there, and we’d shop up a storm.

“We would then head back to Central; then we would head up to the KFC at Half-Way Tree and we would get the opportunity to go watch folks skating over at Skateland.

“From there it would be Shoppers Fair on the Boulevard for grocery shopping, before finally heading back to the country.”

Then there was Grand Market.

“Grand Market wasn’t so much about the shopping, but more about seeing friends and neighbours. We loved beautiful things and this was the opportunity to see vendors bring out their finest wares. My mom was a very creative person so we would shop for fabric because there was not a dress she could not sew or a piece of furniture that she could not reupholster. Jonkunno was a welcome sight, although mi did kinda ‘fraid fi dem!”

Christmas dinner was an event in itself and was special, mainly because the family was there.

“We all understood that Jesus was the reason for the season before I truly came to know Him for myself. However, that time was about family for us and thanking God for allowing us all to be together for another year. That’s what it was and still is.”

“These days, there is debate as to whether Jesus was born in December or not. Truthfully, I really don’t care. It is the time set aside by the world to celebrate the coming of the only King that I serve and so I choose to celebrate. I celebrate Him and appreciate what family I have left.

“There is no Christmas like a Jamaican Christmas! Anybody who has not experienced one is simply missing out!”

Of course, Boxing Day was all about the beach!

editorial@gleanerjm.com