Yard and abroad: Christmas travel edition

If home is where the heart is, then we can guarantee that many people will be leaving the cold of foreign lands to return to the land of sand, sea, and sunshine for the Christmas season. Since adventures are not only therapeutic, but the best way to learn about an individual, The Gleaner asked a few citizens making trips in and out of the country the reason behind their travel plans.

Caurel Richards explained that she hasn’t been able to return to Jamaica from Canada every year, but when she does get a chance to, she sees it as an opportunity to rekindle with the warmth of the people, “This is home; it’s embedded in me, its familiarity, it brings back nostalgic moments and it’s a significant benchmark in how far I have gotten in the journey. It’s always an amazing feeling touching down; there’s something about Jamaica that seemingly connects with my soul,” she said.

Richards first returned for Christmas back in 2016 and she explained that her primary reason for her holiday arrival was to paint the town red, green, and gold for Christmas. “The party scene in Canada isn’t that fragrant,” she admitted.

But the professional shared that over time, her why has evolved. She booked her ticket a week ago and she has been excited since then. “A lot of people would say I am lucky, but with the short notice that I had in terms of just following my guidance, I found a ticket that was really reasonable.”

Her plans this time around are to reconcile with a couple of people and reconnect with family, “... but ah one party can gwaan,” Richards added.

Entrepreneur Patrice Gilman is returning for Christmas for the first time this year and she could not be happier to be back on home soil. “This is the first time I have been back home in eight years,” she highlighted, adding that family was the main motivation behind weathering the cold of Canada to reach the island.

“I didn’t want to see my mom cry another Christmas morning because she was home alone. My parents divorced eight years ago, and my brother, my dad, and I migrated to different countries,” she revealed. Unfortunately, neither she nor her sibling has been able to go back home to see their mother, due to circumstances beyond their control. She has decided to change that narrative for this holiday.

“My son and I are looking forward to all the festivities and the feastings. I wanted to surprise Mom but she would be disappointed that she couldn’t get my favourite food from the market for me or cook my favourite dishes, like pot roasted pork leg, roast beef, and gungo peas and rice. So I told her I was coming home.”

While some spend the season escaping the cold, others welcome the freezing weather with open arms. Anneleise Richards and her family developed a tradition six years ago of travelling to the United States for Christmas. It was her mother’s way of bridging the gap by reconnecting with her sisters who had migrated overseas.

“I am very big on family and I love spending time with them. The maternal side, my mother’s father and only sister, lives in Florida. So when we were younger, we would typically go away for Christmas. It started with every other year,” she recalled until she and her sister got older; everyone would be doing the travel rounds. “They would fly down in the summer for my birthday in June, we would go up every Christmas. It is cooler than Jamaica, but it’s not very cold.”

Although the family is really small, the Yuletide gathering has expanded to 15 people, consisting of extended family. A large tree is set up and decorated in one house. The familial group dresses up in matching sweatshirts, which have since been customised in latter years, spends quality time catching up and bonding, and exchanging gifts, opening them all day.

“I have since invited two of my best friends to celebrate with us and they have been coming for two years now. We have a grab bag segment with stockings. We play games. We have a big bingo night and we also do karaoke,” she added.

Since moving to Cayman for work in recent times, it has been different meeting up with family from Jamaica as well as the States. She added that it also means travelling to a bigger airport, which is further away from the house; this gives her a longer deboarding time and she doesn’t enjoy playing that waiting game.

krysta.anderson@gleanerjm.com