From our family to yours, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
We will be spending Christmas Day in Christmas Cove on the boat. Did you know Christmas Cove was the cove that Christopher Columbus stayed on Christmas on one of his trips to the Virgin Islands.
Here is a Christmas poem that was taken from News of St. John and adapted to St. Thomas:
‘Twas the night before
Christmas, when all through St. Thomas,
Not a creature was
stirring, even at Caribbean Saloon;
The stockings were
hung by the Island Time Pub with care,
In hopes that a
Bushwacker soon would be there;
The locals were
chillin’ at XO on St. Thomas;
While Tara dished
out shots of Fireball;
The tourists out to
dinner, some at The Cellar,
Next head to Latitude 18 for a little night cap,
When out on the
dock there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my
barstool to see what’s the matter.
Away to the beach,
I flew like a flash,
Ran past Fish Tails
and heard a big splash.
The moon on the bay
and the St. John lights,
Gave a lustre of
midday to something in flight,
When what to my
wondering eyes did appear,
But a miniature
sleigh and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old
driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment
he must be St. Nick.
More rapid than
mongoose his coursers they came,
And he whistled,
and shouted, and called them by name:
“Now, Dasher! now,
Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on,
Cupid! on, Donder and Blixen!
To the top of Crown
Mountain! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash
away! dash away all!”
As leaves that
before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with
an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up past Moutain
Top the coursers they flew
With the sleigh
full of toys, and St. Nicholas too—
And then, in a
twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and
pawing of each little hoof.
As I put down my
drink, and was turning around,
Down the palm tree
St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all
in fur, from his head to his hand,
And his clothes
were all tarnished all salty with sand;
A bundle of toys he
had flung on his back,
And he looked like
a pedler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they
twinkled! his dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were
like roses, his nose like a cherry!
Now back at the
sleigh were three HSST dogs;
While back in the
house, the man sampled some treats,
And made sure to
leave some for the Iguanas to eat;
He had a tanned
face and a little round belly
That shook when he
laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and
plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when
I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye
and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to
know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a
word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the
stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his
finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod,
up the palm tree he rose;
He sprang to his
sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all
flew, like Homer, a missile.
But I heard him
exclaim, as he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to
all, and to all a good night!”
