The traditional stories of the celebration of Christmas, many years ago, are still with us today although there may have been some changes as the years and customs progressed. While there are certain celebratory events in the community, like the current Lions’ Club Tree Lighting function in The Valley, and the South Hill Village, the celebration of Christmas, together with New Year’s Eve, is a big event at all of the island’s tourist resorts. Not only are the large number of employees at the hotels involved in the celebration, but all the guests who crowd the resorts – particularly around this festive period – take advantage of the special engagements.
Noting the festive mood that normally sweeps across the island this time of the year, the General Manager of Four Seasons Resort and Residences, Mr. Jose Adames, said on Monday, December 18, that Christmas was part of the culture of Anguilla. He was speaking at what was called “Carnival in December” – a mass staff meeting with music accompaniment held at the property’s Aleta Restaurant. “This is Anguilla and Anguilla has so much to be grateful and proud for – and your culture should always be number one for anyone whoever visits your island, and Christmas is part of Anguilla’s culture,” he told the employees.
Earlier, the Villa Manager, Mr. Billy Cueto, told the workers about the plans for the festive celebration and of the many guests who will be at the property over that very busy period. Summing up the coming occasion, he said: “Four Seasons is going to have the greatest Festive in the history of this island this year, and we are excited to have an amazing Festive. This is like a super bowl, like a world cup. It is the culmination of the year – what we have been planning for and working towards. This two-week period is for us to showcase our amazing products, and our outstanding service to some of our most elite travelers and affluent guests. They will be gracing us with their presence between now and just after New Year’s.”
The “Carnival in December” meeting climaxed with the distribution of a large amount of turkey and ham supplies – another cultural celebration of Christmas – to the several hundred employees by the resort’s Human Resources Department. The Anguillian Director, Ms. Dorla Hodge, commented:
“Every year we distribute hams and turkeys to our employees. As you know, this was an extraordinary year because of the hurricane. We opened on March 23rd and since that time our employees have been working really hard to get the hotel up and running. You were here in March and you can definitely see the difference. We are really proud because our entire collateral is available and we will be ready to go for Festive. This is our way of saying thank you to our employees for all of their hard work.
“As we ramp up for Festive you can see out there that everyone is excited and ready for Festive. We just had our all employees’ meeting that was entitled: “Carnival in December”. It was really Festive with the snow cones with the ‘PC’ members being all engaged. We had cotton candies, face-painting, etc. This is a day for us to celebrate our employees because, as it is said, ‘happy employees, happy guests’. If this is what Festive looks like, I am extremely delighted.”
Meanwhile, Ms. Suzanne Willis, Four Seasons’ Miami, Florida-based Director of Public Relations and Communications, issued the following release:
“Four Seasons Anguilla held a “Carnival in December” on December 18 to kickoff the launch of its Festive Season. More than 250 employees gathered together to enjoy music, food, laughter and simple camaraderie. The team was briefed on the Festive strategy to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Following the meeting, managers distributed an appreciation gift of a turkey or ham to each employee.
“2018 has been a challenging and exciting year all at the same time. We were thrilled to reopen our resort on March 23 and have made excellent progress with re-booking business,” stated Jose Adames, General Manager. “I’m also delighted to share that we are heading into our best Festive Season on record and 2019 is shaping up to be a record-breaking year as well.”
