Guess who came to town?

Yesterday Santa came to town! And he was really hot and sweaty in his heavy red santa suit in the 30 degree weather! I sure wouldn't want to be him! We (a bunch of expats) set up a tent on the beach decorated a tree and set out cookies and juice, and all the kids in town (about 400 of them) came and waited for Santa. They were way excited!!! We had them sing some Christmas songs ... they have a few that I wonder about. One called 'Daddy don't get drunk this christmas' and their twelve days of christmas starts and ends with fried fish in a basket. The youth choir sang (they were amazing!!) a song about all men being free. It was beautiful. There were even 'drummer boys'! The garifuna boys/men drum at every occasion in Hopkins. (Even if the occasion is just Friday night at the bar.) It was one of those cultural experiences. And then HE came! and he had with him about 400 shoeboxes full of goodies. One for each child from the tiniest baby to the teenagers. It was great to see the shoeboxes from this side of things. The kids were so thrilled with their presents. They lined up to get them and have their picture taken with Santa. Then they ran off with their group of friends to a spot on the beach and opened their boxes. It was so fun to see them all wandering around later with their boxes full of goodies under one arm and a mouth full of candy. I'll tell ya, next year when I'm packing those shoeboxes for the school, it will have a whole new meaning for me!!