‘Tis the season – and nowhere celebrates Christmas quite like the Caribbean! Here's a glimpse into what bloggers are doing to get into the spirit of the festivities… Guyanese bloggers do a meme on “Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without…” For Signifyin’ Guyana, who started the meme, it's “my dad's ham” and “playing board games with my folks after we've all had a few and then some more.” Guyana 911 chimes in (sometimes cynically) with the following list: - Christmas clean up. Whoa.. what happened to this house. Are you moving out? - Pepper Pot. Time, tide and Jesus birthday waits for no pepper pot. Is the earth going to stop moving if you don't make pepper pot? - Black Cake. - A Christmas Tree. Cut them all down, but lets not make Christmas cards out of em. No.. instead, we can make furniture. Now that's a revolutionary idea. Furniture… something anyone can actually use. - Singer commercials. - Painting over the house and anything else paint sticks to. - Remittances. Raptus8 thinks that gift-giving is an inseparable part of Christmas (once the gift is for him): Since we are speaking about gifts I would like to say to all of my friends and family that you know I have lots of love for you but this year plz don’t expect anything but a Christmas card from me. I’m broke; yes I’m broke…what? I got a promotion the other day? Yes I did but I’m not wealthy and I want to be, so I’m saving my money. I do hope that you will understand my position and that this will not discourage you from buying that special item you saw with my name on it… In Jamaica, Iriegal says that while Christmas time is synonymous with family, the global financial crisis is having an impact on remittances and gifts sent to Jamaica from the diaspora: We know it's Christmas time in Jamaica when the barrels start rolling in. Tings kinda ‘salt’ this year though. The economy has made many items scarce and the shipping fee has gone up as well. Seems folks sending ‘gift cards’ now. She also notes that the recession is making itself felt in other ways this Christmas: Christmas is not Christmas without deh white dem. (Jamaican white rum). We use it for sorrel, Christmas Cake, Christmas Pudding and so on. So why did the people at Wray and Nephew dem lay off their workers right before Christmas. Isn't that shooting yourself in the foot? Cuts are going on everywhere on the island, just as it is all over the world. The recession that the United States is feeling is a Global thing. Everything trickles down. What is sad is that many of the smaller islands do feel it more. When you don't make nothing, you don't have nothing and people try to take that ‘nothing’ away from you, it hurts. Abeng News Magazine prefers to reminisce, taking a look at Christmas in “Old Jamaica” here and here. Bermuda's The Devil Island.com knows its Christmas when Jose Feliciano sings Feliz Navidad, saying: I swear, there is nothing that comes to mind as a more perfect, joyous, happy-making Christmas song. Trinidadian blogger This Beach Called Life concurs, calling it “the best Christmas song ever” and even posting video of Feliciano singing his signature tune. He goes on to explain: Jose Feliciano is an an accomplished guitarist and sings with a distinctive voice and style. Feliz Navidad has become a Cristmas classic and is now impossible to separate from the Christmas season. Feliz Navidad is one of the top 25 most played and recorded Christmas songs around the world. However, fellow Trinidad and Tobago-based blogger Coffeewallah is finding it hard to get into the spirit of the season: I constantly hear people talking about their ‘Christian’ beliefs. It never ceases to amaze me that a lot of these so-called Christian folk are the same ones who bitch the loudest when asked to contribute to a can drive or anything. The same people who will come around and ask you again and again for their children's raffle or whatever, when asked, their response usually is, I gave to something two months ago. I must remember that one for future use. Grinch behaviour coming alive here. But the staples of a Trinbagonian Christmas somehow manage to bring her around: The pointsettias were abloom, their spiky red leaves cheerily brightening the usually sombre space. Though the skies were rainy, inside we were snug, with our ponche de creme to warm us, some Christmas music to sing along with…and all was good. Speaking of Christmas staples, Simply Trini Cooking salutes that time-honoured West Indian Christmas dessert, Black Cake, and includes a recipe should anyone want to try making it.