Most of us will know the classic holiday song “I’ll be home for Christmas” which was written for soldiers longing to return home (during the Second World War) and recorded by Bing Crosby in 1943. While it contains elements such as snow and mistletoe that may be unfamiliar to us in the Caribbean, it is extremely popular and has been sung by many artists including the Mighty Sparrow. Unfortunately for some, this Christmas the song’s last line “If only in my dreams” will be their reality. Many friends and family members will however, thankfully, be home for Christmas. Some will be fortunate to be among the first to arrive through the brand-new beautiful terminal building at the Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport. At its opening ceremony last Friday December 12th, one of the honourees, Pieter Carter, spoke of the fateful Christmas Eve 48 years ago when Captain Clayton J. Lloyd lost his life and others perished with him on the aircraft trying to get home for Christmas.
Having experienced the last Christmas (2024) far away from the warmth of home, I truly look forward to being home for Christmas. And I really mean FAR AWAY FROM THE WARMTH. For I was on a fabulous excursion – a 14-day cruise to Antarctica, the most desired but least visited cruise destination in the World – as far South as one can travel unless you have special scientific tasks which permit you to, and, though it was the South Pole’s summer, it was bitterly cold. The visit was awesome in so many respects, but the feeling of being home with family and friends in my lovely island, Anguilla, is unmatched by any other experience.
Christmas at home was a magical experience during my childhood. My earliest recollections were of Five Finger Christmas trees cut down by my Dad from “in the bush” on the Junks Hole estate and erected in our Living Room. These trees, about 10 feet high, would be beautifully decorated with ornaments and lights, as we were fortunate to have a generator to provide electricity long before the mains supply reached our area in 1980. We would regularly be awakened by carollers with their string-band music. On Christmas mornings we would find our gifts under the Christmas Tree. Often, these would include toys for each one of us from our older cousin in the USA, Lincoln Lewis, whom we called Paipy Lindoo. We once got an entire toy band, guitar, wind instruments and drums, that really worked.
We would all go off to early morning church, decked out in our new Christmas clothes, and greet friends and family including those who had come “Home for Christmas” from the Virgin Islands, the USA and other countries around the world. Lunch extended into dinner, we would usually have a huge turkey brought in from St Thomas by one of our aunts, ham, goat and sheep meat, roasted potatoes, potato pudding, peas and rice, and much more. My mother would have baked many cakes, but her specialty was fruit cakes, which were heavenly. She would have had her fruits soaked in wine for many weeks and even the waxed paper between the finished product and the baking pans were fought over.
We would visit with our friends and cousins, and there would be a constant stream of visitors to our house as well. Sometimes dozens of us cousins would set off to pick ‘sherries’ and sea grapes, and somehow always end up in the sea at Junks Hole, Shoal Bay or Island Harbour. There would be Christmas concerts at school and at church which would always be well attended and show off the great natural talents of our young singers and actors.
Our toys in those days were mainly cowboy guns with paper shots for the boys, and dolls for the girls. We had squibs and sparklers which we would light, especially at night. Another fixture at nights was roast corn on the coal pot outside, with story telling as we waited for our next delicious roasted corn. The Christmas celebrations would go over into Boxing Day, when we would have a huge family picnic at Captain’s Bay. Our Christmas Tree would be kept in place until the 12 Days of Christmas were over, and we would have a huge bonfire afterward. One thing I regret in retrospect is that we didn’t save some of those magnificent specimens which we could spray green and reuse year after year. Because I doubt we will ever see their like again, and artificial trees are poor replacements for the Five Finger trees.
As I grew older the outside world began to beckon, indeed travel is now one of my favourite pursuits. My Aunt Mena lived in Aruba where she had worked for many years with the Lago Oil Company, and each of us children would go to visit her just before turning 12 when adult fares would apply. As my birthday is in January, I was fortunate to spend my first Christmas away in Aruba, which I enjoyed thoroughly. My next Christmas away from home was in Antigua two years later (1975) at the home of my Aunt Ursula and her husband whom I called Teacher Max, during his service as a SDA Pastor there. This time, the house was filled with youngsters around my age and we had an awesome time, window-shopping in St. Johns at night, getting into trouble, doing what young men do. A highlight was attending Midnight Mass at the St. John’s Cathedral where the choir’s rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s “Messiah” was surely one of the most memorable performances I have ever witnessed!
In the years following, I completed my studies at the Valley Secondary School (now the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School) and began studies at the St. Lucia A’ level College (now the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College). I always looked forward to coming home for every school vacation, which involved flying back and forth island-hopping on LIAT. As LIAT was headquartered in Antigua, I would always spend a few days there with my family coming home or on my way back to St. Lucia. This was the case in December 1977. For some reason I spent more time than usual in Antigua before heading to St Maarten on LIAT on December 24th, Christmas Eve, that fateful day that Pieter Carter had spoken of. I was standing at the desk of Valley Air Service at Princess Juliana International Airport waiting for my flight to Anguilla on that airline when Mr. Jeremiah Gumbs, who was a family friend, walked up to me and said, “Young man, what are you doing here?” I told him I was waiting for the plane to Anguilla. Captain Clayton Lloyd had been trying to help all who needed to get home for Christmas so my flight was delayed. Mr. Gumbs shouted, “Let’s go to Rendezvous!” He would have been there perhaps to meet guests at his hotel, Rendezvous Bay Hotel, and take them by his speedboat directly to Rendezvous Bay. I grabbed my suitcase and Naaman and Oniel Webster, the crew, took us quickly to Anguilla. They then drove me in their car towards Island Harbour (where they live), dropping me off at the top of the road a short distance from our house. A few minutes later I was seated in the Living Room watching St. Maarten TV, one of the only TV channels available at that time. Suddenly, the teleprinter flashed the chilling news that a Valley Air Service plane had crashed shortly after take-off and all aboard were feared dead. The very plane I was supposed to be on, flown by legendary Anguillian aviation pioneer Clayton J Lloyd, save for the intervention of God through Lloyd’s uncle, Jeremiah Gumbs! I could only sit there and tremble for what must have been a half-hour or so until I composed myself enough to go into the kitchen and tell my mother what had happened. Yes, I was home for Christmas, but under incredible circumstances that I will never forget. “Home for Christmas” will always have a special meaning for me. In fact, apart from last year, I can only recall spending one Christmas away from home since then.
This week, the first passengers will enter Anguilla through the brand-new terminal building at our airport which proudly bears the name Clayton J Lloyd International Airport, honouring Captain Lloyd who lost his life as he had lived it, serving his island and its people. Some of them will be coming home for Christmas. And many others will arrive at the Blowing Point Ferry Terminal to be home for Christmas, and take the Jeremiah Gumbs Highway out of Blowing Point, named after another legendary Anguillian pioneer and nation-builder. The question is, what is “Home for Christmas” like today, in 2025?
It is undeniable that Christmas in Anguilla has changed much over the past 50 years. We now have island-wide electricity, so there are lots more Christmas lights in homes and businesses. We can now fly home non-stop from several cities in the USA. We can call our family and friends all over the world on our cell phones which didn’t exist when I was younger. We can now buy all the turkey and ham that we wish right here in our stores. We can listen to Christmas carols and other songs on our phones and other devices. We can shop on our devices for whatever we desire. We have vehicles that we can drive to visit friends and families on paved roads, unlike the dusty unpaved roads which we used to have to walk or catch a ride on in the past. We have many more churches, many of them air-conditioned and more comfortable and better equipped than those in the decades past. But we seldom hear carollers anymore. Now the guns on the streets are no longer toys. Now, we seldom see the visiting friends and family because everyone has his or her own agenda and our schedules can’t seem to permit the picnics, church services or other get-togethers of the past.
It is my prayer that Christmas at Home will be a time of peace and joy, a time of refreshing of the spirit of togetherness, of sharing and of caring. If you are Home for Christmas, please take some time to reflect on the real meaning of Christmas, the real Reason for the Season. Whether you live here or you are visiting, let us all try to bring back some of the elements that used to make being home for Christmas so very wonderful. And let us thank God that we have the wonderful privilege to indeed be in this blessed and beautiful island with family and friends for Christmas 2025.
