Dear Nesta,
Well girlchile, Chris’mas back agen, an’ de rush startin’ up, wid all de decorations, de music an’ de advertisements! To me, it look like only yesterday it was Chris’mas 2011, an’ jes’ fancy, it hey agen! Fathuh Time en nusin’ skates no mo’, ’e gine ’long mo’ fas’ dan de speed o’ light! When yuh was small, it look as ef Chris’mas would never come. Nowadays, befo’ yuh could blink, it ‘pon yuh doorstep!
I suppose, as far as de merchants concern, it could come evuh week, aldoh dis year, I been wonderin’ how successful t’ings gine turn out fuh dem. De stores doin’ duh bes’ to get de few coppers outta yuh han’s, wid all sorts o’ offers, but I en know how good duh succeedin’, ’cause up to now, de season still seem quiet! Philomena tell muh not to fuhget dat we Bajans always wait till de las’ minute, an’ den mek a rush fuh de stores an’ clean out de shelves, recession or no recession! She en wrong, but as we all know, a lot o’ dem t’ings, ’specially de big electrical ones, gine right back whey duh come from, in January an’ February – de warehouses! I could only t’ink people like to play dis in-an’-out game evuh year!
De hussle an’ bussle o’ las-minute Chris’mas shoppin’ is one t’ing, but mos’ times when yuh rushin’’bout de store – pushin’ an’ shovin’ – yuh pick up t’ings dat yuh din really go out to buy! When yuh reach home an’ get a good look at de price tag, an’ see jes’ hummuch it cos’, yuh realize it was a mistake, an’ yuh shoulda lef’ it ’lone, but it too late! Anyway, yuh tell yuhself it is Chris’mas, comin’ only once a year! It en difficult to onderstan’ why, in dem firs’ two monfs o’ de year, summuch o’ we suckin’ salt!
Philomena too love Chris’mas! Dat woman would shop ’til she drop ef it was possible. Good t’ing CLICO still got she money or else a lot woulda disappear at dis time. Anyway, she sister in Amurica phone las’ week to say she sennin’ a tablet fuh she dis year. Right off, Philomena turn blue an’ ax ef she sister so skint, she could only afford to sen’ one painkiller ‘stead o’ de whole bottle! She had muh at a loss fuh a minute, but when I ketch on, aldoh I try to explain wuh a tablet is, I don’ t’ink she believe me! Is a turrble t’ing when yuh don’ know, faif!
Bu’looka how we talkin’ ’bout Chris’mas, an’ sence las’ Friduh, when dah turrble shootin’ tek place at de elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, 18 li’l trildrun en gine see it! Dem poor li’l souls, all happy an’ lookin’ forward to Chris’mas, get shoot down in cole blood, easy so! Tummuch sadness in de worl’ dese days, faif, an’ I could only imagine wuh dem parents goin’ t’rough at dis time! Duh in muh prayers!
Dese school shootin’s happenin’ far too of’en! Imagine, when yuh wave yuh trildrun off to school, yuh might not see dem alive agen! Guns too easy to get in Amurica, an’ tummuch “trigger-happy” people able to get at duh! De aut’orities gine ha’ to do somet’ing ’bout it, an’ soon!
Ness, we might laff at de folks expeckin’ Doomsday pon’ December 21 – ’ccordin’ to de calendar lef’ by de Mayans – an’ t’ink duh gone crazy, ’specially when we read how duh maxxin’ out credit cards, believin’ payment day en evuh comin’, an’ buildin’ arks to ride de waves, but duh might got a p’int! Life ’pon dis side really en so sweet nowadays! De quicker de Creator come fuh ’E worl’, de better!
Tek care o’ yuhself
Yuh frien’ Babsie
