THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

[Laurel]

This 2010 Christmas Holiday Reach was filled with simply

~ THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

as usual - crazy busy with work leading up to departure ~ and crazy busy with SoDak travel and family stuff ...

had no time to even pull out my suitcases until the day prior to departure - piled in all that I could carry, had a whole heap of candy treats to bring ... and my friend came with even more from her stash for me to carry.

had a reasonable time for depature on Christmas Day, and managed to even sleep thru the night till the alarm went off ~

had a TIP flashing for the curb side porter ~ and a little Christmas Blessing - he let my cases pass ~ whewww

landed later than usual in Montego Bay - and was SHOCKED by all the mobs of those arriving, in all my years of travel to Jamaica, I had NEVER seen so many jammed up in the lines. 2 and 1/2 hours to get thru, but, while me and my pile of pink elephants got pulled outta the "nothing to declare" line, a quickie little verbal run down of stash, and I got a wave thru!!

Yippeee -

too tired to go out to supper ... but not "too" tired ~



Mr. Big Man made a sweet bon fire for us to enjoy from our new verandah



he brought me in some bit of food to sustain me ~ forgot to photo it

[Laurel]

Re: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

Damion came around early the next morning to carry us to ValuMaster ... had to get nuff shopping for chicken, fish, beers, rum - whatnot

Shelly had done alot of prep shopping from the market in Lucea ~

the men dropped my off at BBBarn so I could link up with THE BESTEST friend a girl could have; it had been 3 years since we had been able to hug each other up - it was so sweet to see her again for real.

[Laurel]

Re: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

I spent a really THE BEST day ever lounging sea-side with wonderful friends ..

Seveen, as you already know had several Boardie Friends on alert that she would be holding court as Queen of BBBarn - nuff folks stopped by to meet and greet her, and I got the pleasure of meeting lot's of them as well.

all is right in my little world

Mr. Big Man spent his day messing around doing what he does ... and brought us nice box meal in to share for our supper. Jamaica food is SWEET ...

food from Sweet Spice that night ... photo was blurred - so will not bother.

Next morning - we got an early call from the women up in the country, they had more folks confirmed to come, so we will need another 25 pounds of chicken to add to the first 25 pounds ~ word spreads fast that they are cooking for the Holiday.

Damion arrives soon, and we are off to try to find a store open. A typical slow start for the shop workers - we decide to go pick up Seveen and Abu, cuz Mr. had told them to be ready for pick up at 8:00am. We chased around for an open store and found none - looked further till we found one - got the next round of shopping ...and we are off.

we reach the country lane the family lives on, and exit the car at the top of The Hill ... and meander down at our lesure on foot ... road continues to be too rough to carry people down



As we are making our way down into the valley - along comes Fire - his son Ante hears his music thumping from up the lane - and he MUST come meet his daddy and have a ride along.

[Laurel]

Re: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

it is splendid up in the country ... and it was THE BEST family day ..



this little girl was my newest little poser ... she did nuff love having her photo taken -

[Laurel]

Re: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

Seveen and I took our seat pon the verandah and watched as the day unfolded itself -

various family and friends arrived, the children all played well together ... Abu just settled right in, and Seveen got to spend time with this sweet smelling baby -

[rie]

Re: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

Hello Laurel You are off to a good start on THE BESTEST TRIP EVER!

Where is that big daughter of yours? She is usally the camera girl?

Seveen looks so happy holding precious baby. Do I see jeans and a coat?

WOW<WOW>WOW 50 lbs of chicken, Now that's the pic I hope you took of all that cooked! I bet it took all day.

Waiting on your next installment

[Seveen]

Re: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

that little baby was so sweet - i started to nab her - than i remembered that i would be 102 before she graduated high school

what a wonderful day in the country - i had to wear some extra clothes - camisole, jeans, long sleeve tunic top, jean jacket - and hit up my appleton rum 'cause christmas breeze was cold and i wouldn't have made it up there all day without the extras

only laurel can make me set my alarm clock on vacation - i am horrible in the morning - don't even speak to me

[Laurel]

Re: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

hello ...

gosh - when 8:00am came and past that morning - I just KNEW I was gonna get an ear-full from Seveen ... but - I just "hoped" that she knew he meant 8:00am Jamaica time ... which is 'soon come' ~

Tish ... we did have lot's of choices for everyone that day, some really good Kingfish steaks, a goat, a piece of pork, and all the pounds of chicken ~

when the plans began to come together, I told Mr. we really had a budget ... it was low - what did he expect for us to contribute? he said - no more then $xxx - OK ~ so in typical JaJa Fashion ... of course it was triple that $xxx

oh well - nevermind ... it had been a few years since we had done a party like that, and we all pitched in ... (and they do all the work ~ )


I told Abu he needed to be prepared for The Bush ... he truly had THE BEST time tramping up and down with Bim. here is is trying to keep the new shoes looking swell ~



of course - I do not sleep for several nights when I reach Jamaica ... this was Monday, and I had not slept since Friday night ... I so much wanted to just crawl up in here and join the babies in their nap ~



the family would never mind if I did - but I would never want to miss anything that is going on ~ so I got up and walked around once in a while to keep from nodding off.



getting the sound system prepared ~

[Laurel]

Re: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

one of the land owners has come back from living all his years in England ... he has some wonderful plans to place a home for himself and a couple Guest Houses on his land ~

maybe one day, one of you may be taking a holiday break Uppa Bush - that is his plan anyway ...



the goat, the chicken, the pork ...

[Laurel]

Re: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

[Seveen]

Re: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

that bench was made in no time - sat at least 7

[ohliz]

Re: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

Yay, a Laurel report!!

[rie]

Re: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

Laurel, that land looks ever so lovely, but that is not your place, right?

I figured they were going to make a bench. The Jamaican mind can usally always make smething out of not much, but when they are done, it turns out nice.

[R00TS]

Re: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

Pretty cool to see you all enjoying all that we love here.
thanks so much for always sharing
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Laurel</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
</div></div>

WOW! GReat photo!
just love this Lu!

[Stormmey]

Re: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ~

Lordy lordy Laurel, I can smell that chicken.....wish I could jump through the screen and just eat sum. Nice pics by the way....love the flora