When the typical person thinks of the Christmas holidays, they would most likely imagine a beautiful, winter wonderland; the smell of pine trees in the air, and stores lit up with bountiful lights and filled with presents. In every supermarket the bells of Santa’s sleigh will be ringing, and jolly Christmas songs will be a’ singing from every karaoke in the country. The seasons have visibly changed. The lengthy warm summer days have gone. We now lie on the soft grass and lookup at the vast sky, and golden brown leaves float gently down upon you. The ongoing job of raking the leaves continuously gets messed up by your inner child coming out and diving back into the piles. Fall came and went. You wake up one morning, sometime mid-November to look out the window and see that the thermometer has definitely dropped, and little flakes of snow glide to the ground. SNOW DAY! School is called off, and the kids around the block come out for an annual snowball fight. In a few weeks it will be Christmas, and the children have long lists of amazing (and expensive) gifts. It is the time of giving and receiving. The days are short, and the nights are long.
And then there’s us on Saipan. We don’t have that beautiful winter wonderland, the beetle nut trees don’t know how to lose all of their leaves on time, but the weather does get much nicer. It is not so hot and is a lot windier as trade winds blow from the northeast. At least, we do get to enjoy some things that people in climates such as described above can’t. Our closets are much less of a hassle, there’s no need to switch out clothes by the season; we only have one season (unless you count the wet and dry season, but who really wears raincoats regularly on this island?). There is really not much use for sweaters and jackets. We also get to enjoy seeing a local Santa, wearing a full furry Santa Suit and an even fuller accent. It’s Saipan, so the guy’s white face paint is all runny from the dripping sweat, as he rides on top of one of the few fire trucks that Saipan has. He’s driven around town throwing candy out to bystanders watching this “parade”. He also preaches to young adults and five-year-olds about how bad drinking and driving is along the way. There are signs on every street, every corner, and behind every trash can on island which threatens, “You Drink, You Drive, You LOSE.” I vaguely remember this happening when I was seven or eight years old. It was a bit misleading, because most of us did not know what the kind of “drink” was that the jovial old Santa was talking about. We were on our way to school one morning and my mother took out a bottle of water to drink. And as innocent as I was, I could not help but snatching it out of her hand while shouting, “MOM! If you drink that were going to lose!” She could not help but laugh, but I was so stuck on this idea, I honestly could not see what was so funny. She explained to me that the “drink” was alcohol, when I did not know what that was, she told me it was “Adult Soda” and I understood. To this day, I have never been able to find “Adult Soda” in any of the supermarkets we’ve ever been to.
These wonderful holidays are on their way again this year, and if you want some magical candy or some super cool drinking and driving pamphlets, make sure to find Santa on his fire truck. It is a very different life than what people experience in colder climates, but it’s a great life.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
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