CHAPTER 8 {kiss}

  

Christmas also means giving of oneself.  It was the Christmas season my mother was working very hard on a Nativity play for our local church.  She had offered me a part in the play.  I refused the part.  Why? I had no idea I had become a stubborn and rebellious teenager. In retrospect, I had no good reason to turn down the part.  Two days before the opening, her leading actor pulled out of the play. I believe he got cold feet.  I was her only recourse and she came to me one more time.  I accepted. What is my reward? A kiss from an old lady in the audience.  How did my mother feel? Proud.  Me? I love Christmas it brings out the best in people.  It makes our goodness shine. What a gift Christmas is but for us to accept.

I Remember Christmas.

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CHAPRER 7 {NATIVITY PLAY}

 

        The school term is not yet over my part is still available.  One week before Christmas, I rehearsed my part.  The play opens on Christmas Eve.  There was a standing ovation for me before and after the play.  By then Deanna wanted to act with me she was in love with me all along and I did not know.  Oh! Boy! How I love this Christmas time of the Year.

I remember Christmas.

(Ja Beach),  now on sale for $25.00 shipping not included.

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CHAPTER 6 - Sick and in Hospital

 

I had a part in a Nativity play. I was Joseph, the leading actor.  Every boy in the school wanted to be near the girl that played the lead female part.  Deanna.  Deanna was Mary.  I had long since been in love with her, so of course I was devastated when I got ill and had to be hospitalized.  No end seemed in sight.  The doctors could not find out what ailed me.  I went through a battery of tests, and still no results and I wasn’t  feeling any better.  The Christmas season was fast approaching, and I was feeling depressed.

         Sick and in hospital, how miserable can that be?  I then got a gift -  a pair of Cowboy guns and a holster. My spirits perked up.  I was still sick but in a much better mood. One evening a gentleman came to visit whom I had never seen before, and he took a picture of me, standing on my bed with my guns drawn. He promised to return later with a copy of the photograph.   My mood changed miraculously and I began to feel better.  The spirit of Christmas was in the air again.

         Oh! How I love this festive season of the year.  Soon came the day that I was to be discharged, the gentleman had not returned with the picture of me.  I was packed and ready and waiting for my parents to pick me up.  I sat on my bed feeling very sad and pensive. Maybe I would never see the gentleman who took the picture of me again?  Then I would never see how I looked. 

However, remember this is Christmas. Just as I removed my hands from my eyes, the gentleman came rushing in, waving my picture above his head.  I loved it! I looked great! I was overjoyed. Years later as an adult I learned the identity of the gentleman after examining the back of the photograph. 

 I remember Christmas

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I Remember Christmas ( Chapter 5 Christmas Eve)

 

Christmas Eve

Daddy loved Christmas.  During this time of the year, he took control of the kitchen.  Prepared the turkey, the Ham the Garlic Pork, boiling the pigs feet and ears to make souse. Boiling down the beef for the pepper pot and using all of the rich spices.  Not forgetting the rum punch and Punch creamer.  We stood by like nurses passing the different cooking utensils to him the surgeon who performing the different cuts on the turkey, ham and roast pork. 

         During all this cooking activity, loud calypso music was being played, With a Christmas festive flare.  Infusing our minds with the sounds of Christmas, we will never forget.  Mummy would peak in every once a while. Concerned about the state of her kitchen, which was now taken over.  This was the only time of the year she did not interfere with activities in her kitchen.  Mummy got about decorating the living room area of the house.  When the food was in the oven, everyone gathered around to help her.  She was quite a boss, but we loved her all the same.  The Christmas tree had to be lifted in and placed into position.   We always had a very big natural Christmas tree.  Last year’s carton with all the Christmas decorations was brought down and old lights were tested and all broken bulbs discarded and new ones put in place.  Then came Christmas Eve night when we wrapped gifts and placed them under the tree.  Oh! How I loved Christmas. Now all tired, we try to stay up as long as our eyes would permit to see when Santa would come with all our gifts.  He only came after we drifted into a deep sleep. 

I Remember Christmasl

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I Remember Christmas (chapter 4 Festivity)

 

FESTIVITY

On Christmas Eve, we excitedly took a trip to the shopping district.  The roads are packed with shoppers and hawkers.  There were vendors on both sides of the street making it difficult to walk on the pavement.  Firecrackers going off Bang!Bang! ,whistles and horns blaring in the esthetic Christmas air. They are tons of toys, and lots of food for sale.

          Of course, one cannot leave out the masquerade dancers  accompanied by flute players and drummers making merry music. Joining them is the scary Mad Bull with his horns and fearsome face.  Then there is the Granny Long Lady on stilts with her face painted white.  “Man it is fun.”    The masquerade dancers and the flouncing musicians singing and chanting “Christmas comes but once a year, so drinks your rum and tumble down, Bato, Bato!  Christmas comes but once a year, so flounce if you flouncing Bato, Bato!  Christmas comes but once a year so wine and tumble down on the ground Bato, Bato!”

         Up the road, there were steel pan players beating out sweet carols at a bouncy calypso beat. In addition, girls and boys, women and men dancing up a storm to the rhythm of Christmas calypso music. 

          Oh! Boy, I love this Christmas season.  

I remember Christmas

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I Remember Christmas 3 Aunt Yvonne

 

Chapter 3 {Aunt Yvonne}

 

          In the sixties, Guyana was going through a period of political unrest.  There were protest, rioting looting, and thousands of workers were on strike. There were food shortages, and many houses and businesses were burned to the ground.  These were frightening times for children. My Aunt Yvonne, whom we lived with then, was also on strike.  My brother and I had gone to live with her while; our parents were away in Ghana, West Africa. 

      I will always remember the sad rainy day when the miracle of Christmas came rippling into our world.  Our aunt Yvonne came bursting into our bedroom dancing and flouncing.  Flouncing is a traditional dance step in Guyana, performed mainly during the Christmas season. 

          Suddenly, while flouncing away with the majesty of Christmas, Aunt Yvonne raised the hem of her skirt and out flew a toy.  Then, with one more whirl and toss of the hem of her skirt, out flew another toy.  To my brother and me, these were the best of gifts of the season, nothing else mattered.  Our hearts were so content it would not have mattered if we received no new gifts.  We were completely satisfied.  Her dance of an angle flowing with joy and Peace lifted our hearts with promise and happiness. 

          I remember Christmas

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I Remember Christmas (chapter 2)

  Brother Ent Heavy

During the Christmas season, one of the traditions in Ghana was to build a trash house. This trash house was built out of the leaves from a palm tree.  You then spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning in it rejoicing the day Christ was born.  This custom symbolized the humble way that Christ came into the world, born in a stable.  Although I must confess that, I was never able to spend the whole night in the palm house.  I missed my bed, and the nights were cold.

          It was Christmas Eve and my elder brother, Clarence and I decided to climb a tall tree to cut down a few posts to build our little Christmas house.  While my tall, and on the way to becoming fat, brother climbed the tree, I stood at the bottom of the tree to point out which of the best limbs to cut.  Suddenly I heard a loud crack Then before my horrified eyes, Clarence came crashing down from the tree, landing on a pointed tree stump with a loud “thump”.  That then punctured his right thigh.

    Bravely he held on to his thigh and told me not to cry. Quickly he ripped his shirt off and told me to tie a tourniquet above the wound. How that thought  came to him, I would never know.  I scampered home screaming for help.  What a courageous big brother Clarence was. Lucky for us, my parents were home  they rushed him to the hospital.  “Oh! For the love of parents, what would kids do.”

I remember Christmas

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Chapter 2 (Gift of Love)

 

I remember Christmas when as a little boy I sat Under the Christmas tree and gazed at all the toys that Santa had brought for my brother and me.  With me and my brother saying aloud “Santa must be a very good man”.

Those words brought tears of joy to my grandfather’s eyes.  At that age, I had no idea that he was one of Santa’s great helpers, who brought all those wonderful gifts that, adorned the bottom of our Christmas tree.  

The essence of Christmas, giving gifts of love.

I remember Christmas

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I Remember Christmas (part 2 prologue)

 

I then sent the script to a literary agent, who liked it but advised that it would do better with illustrations. Having no training in art, I endeavored to paint a series of watercolor paintings to help illustrate the contents of my script.  The need to illustrate this script lead me into a new and exciting field of Folk Art.  Today my art is exhibited and sold in a prestigious art gallery in Soho, New York City.

          Now for a little more information on background, I was born in British Guiana now called Guyana.  Most of my educational years were spent between Guyana, South America, and Ghana, West Africa.  I came to the United States in 1987.  I have since remarried, and have a loving family of four.  This children’s book is my second attempt at writing. My first was Day in the Life of Abby.

         As a child growing up,I found that it was the little things that made Christmas pleasant; a kiss, a hug, a thank you, a little gift. The simple action of love and deed.

         Even if you cannot give an expensive gift or a big one, remember it is the token appreciation that matters. Lastly, be loving, be creative, and remember the reason for Christmas - therein lies its beauty and spirit.  For I tell you it is truly a spirit.

I remember Christmas.

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I Remember Christmas (part 1 Prologue )

 

PROLOGUE

December 1992

The background of this children’s book has a distinctive Caribbean flare. Remembrance of Christmas opens windows on different cultures and their similarities.  The comparable backgrounds I feel children the world over can relate to and also adults.  Remembrance of Christmas narrative was drawn from memorable episodes of the Christmas season in my life “as a child growing up” in Guyana, South America and Ghana, West Africa.

          My desire to write about the joys of Christmas was ironically triggered by a feeling of sadness.

It was close to Christmas day I was far from home in New York, and I had not received a Christmas card from my son who then lived in Guyana.  It was a cold day the snow had fallen all night and into the morning.  I was on my way to work and had just missed the bus; all I could do was stand and lament. Then it slowly dawned on me I had to snap out of this feeling of sadness before it affected my new loving family. Hence the idea for Remembrance of Christmas was born.

          The truth became apparent to me when I had my new, lovely, then nine years old daughter, Deanna, read this script.  She totally enjoyed the script, she even laughed.  She then encouraged her teenage brother Marlon to read the script. His response was a wide smile. He also enjoyed the script.  I have since had this children story adapted and “performed” as a play by my local church in Brooklyn.  The play was well received by a multicultural congregation with much acclaim.

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Baby Gal vs. Pit Street Bull

  Nowthere were only two kites left in the air and we battle a bad man kite named Pitt Street Bull. Twice our tail with razor blades crossed over his rope but he still was flying and dipping and crossing and coming for our kite. Pitt Street Bull’s tail crossed our rope three times. It looked like he was winning the battle. ‘So we pretended we were hurt and started to fall flapping in the wind like a bird whose wing is broken’. Pitt Street Bull, saw that and was coming in for the kill. The Kite Man shouted “Pull! Pull! Pull!” I pulled and balled the rope furiously, the rope burning my hands. I already had blisters. Our kite rose and just as Pit was coming for the kill our tail cut his rope. We won the battle. At the same moment a big thunder and lightning flashed through the sky, Kite Man shouted “Lego! Lego! Lego the rope!” Away flew Baby Gal, into the thunder and lightning razor blades sparking! Baby Gal was on fire! Once upon an Easter

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Once Upon an Easter Ch 11

 

 When we got to the back Dam there were thousands of kites already in the air, kites of every sort, shape and size; box kites, bird kites, boy and girl kites. A buzz of excitement engulfed us. On one end of the dam a jukebox was playing loud calypso music and on the other a steel band was warming up. Kite Man, as our instructor, said “Raise the kite with the cloth tail fus, let’s see how bad?”

Happy Easter Sunday to all my followers. I skipped a few chapters to get to this day,will continue next few days with the other chapters. Below my website.

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Ramdas Ch2 part 2

 

Most families were not up that early. However because Ramadas’ father worked on the sugar estate he had to be up early. We headed to Ramdas’ bottom house. His mother had brisk fireside going the air was filled with the aroma of hot cocoa and coffee brewing, and roti being clapped by Ramadas’ sister. On the next side of the fireside, his mother roasted some eggplant “Bologna Choker”. Two plates were prepared. We sat in a hammock and ate using our hands as the cool morning breeze blew. Once upon an Easter.

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Once Upon an Easter Ch.2 pt.1

 

It’s 5 am in the morning and Ramdas comes calling. You really had to know the guy. He woke me up by throwing tiny bean seeds at my bedroom window. I sprung out of bed before he woke up the whole household. It was also bird-catching season. The morning air was filled with different sounds of birds singing and chirping. And just before sunrise you heard the cocks crowing around the neighborhood; it is a festive time for all birds. Ramdas and I plunged ourselves into the surrounding fields with high grass. He already had a bird in a cage, attached to that cage was a mini cage with a trap door. Ramdas also had some poles stuck with chewing gum remains. Wewaited as Ramadas’ bird in the cage whistled away. We were hoping his singing would attract other birds like a Kiskadee or a Towa-towa. We hoped to trap one or two in the little cage or on the gummypoles.

Once Upon an Easter Ch1 part 3

 

 

 Ramdas however saved the day.Would you believe that he had a flour bag full of mangoes? We ate as much as we could. Now it was barging time. We dealt the rest to the Iguanas to get them off the cricket pitch. By the time we got home from cricket, Choe Chan’s mother had prepared for us some Chinese cakes with some cold sorrel drink. We ate then left and went to the back of my home to start making our own cricket bats. Sometimes, we made them out of old coconut branches that had fallen from the trees and at other times out old pieces of wood we found around our yard. The start of the Easter holidays. Once upon an Easter

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