Step Out of the Rain and Into CHRISTMAS in Belize City

I need to talk about the elephant in the room.  The elephant on the caye, actually…

RAIN.  It has been a combo platter of grey and drizzly or black and POURING for the last 3 or 4 days.  My yard is flooded (we are now toad farmers), there is a chill in the air at night (the temp might dip into the 70s!) and the north road on Ambergris Caye is…swampy.

How does this RAINY SEASON thing catch me off guard each year?    My favorite weather forecaster Windfinder.com is predicting a north wind for the next few days.  And in this wetter season that can mean “weather”.   As in “we should be seeing some weather”.  Which means a change from the 300+ days of sun that we usually see.  Rain.

So to steer my mind towards brighter things – how did I ever make it through an entire season of winter darkness in NYC? – I bring you the beginning of the Christmas season in Belize.  The holidays don’t need to wait for Thanksgiving around here – no pilgrims idyllically feasted with the native people in this part of the world.  Christmas starts early and always at the Macy’s of Belize – Mirab’s Department Store in Belize City.

In a few more weeks, people will start to decorate their homes and golf carts.  In the first weeks of December, San Pedro will hold the AMAZING lighted boat parade (here is last year’s).  But here’s a look at Belize’s “first snow”.

The entrance.

They are still setting up but it looks awesome!

I don’t know about you but I didn’t bring a Christmas tree or ornaments down to Belize with me.  No room for that in my luggage!  And there are no real pine trees cut here in Belize…so why not go full blown FAKE TREE.  Like the one I had for my first few years here – silver tree with blue glitter.  And then I went PINK.  So fun.

Back to Mirab’s…feathers and mirrors.  LOVE THIS ONE!

How about tropical fish?

It inspired me quite a bit for our first tree at Cayo Frances Farm & Fly.  Last year, I got a bit crafty and made my own seashell ornaments.  We used fishing flies, small Marie Sharp’s bottles tied with ribbon and even had an ornament made for Elsie.  Three legs.

I’m going to try to add a few things this year.  Mirab’s has a beautiful white owl that I plan to make our tree topper (gives me a reason to return soon!)

And I’m thinking about these.

We have a pair of great horned owls at the camp that call back and forth at night.

This manatee from Amazon.  So cute!

Get lost on this Etsy page, you can buy a felt Tapir!  Or a crazy cute squid.

Look at the eagle ray…I must have it.  I MUST HAVE THEM ALL!

Time to get off the internet Rebecca.  Step away from the computer.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

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