Quizzical Queries and Crafty Compendiums: Christmas on Roatan

My Diary: January 11, 2024

Ask no questions, and you’ll be told no lies. Charles Dickens

However, some have asked, and I’ll do my best to tell you truthfully what I know. There were a few inquiries I really did not know the answer to, so I went digging. We learn together sometimes!

Do you put up Christmas Lights? Solar?

We have been here for three Christmas seasons now. We lived at the Calabash Rental House for the first and put some (fake) greenery and red ribbons on the outside railing. I think we each had a string of battery-operated fairy lights on the windows above our computer monitors. We did buy a couple sets of solar-powered white lights for some community pine trees (not kidding, pine trees — on a tropical island?!)

Decorations for Christmas 2022 were bizarre. We re-used that fake greenery thing up on the Hangout railing and added a little stick tree that washed up on the beach. We put a strand of electric Christmas lights on it, and I tied ribbons all over the little stick branches poking out of it. I inserted a yellow arrow in the photo so you can more easily find our 2022 Christmas Tree.

Christmas 2023 was even more sparse. I saw this little tree at Lady Lee and thought it was so pretty. Until I got it home. It blinks red, green, and blue lights, and I hope I never have to look at it again!

I guess we’ve had no Christmas Spirit at all since moving to Roatan, but I hope this answers your question!

Are there Poinsettias there? What is the flower for Christmas?

Yes, Poinsettias thrive here as they are tropical plants, although their appearance is slightly different from what we are accustomed to in the States.

Known in Spanish as the "flor de Nochebuena," or "flower of Christmas Eve," fills year-end holiday markets and intertwines with celebrations of the night before Christmas.

What about food for Christmas? Ham, Turkey, Burgers?

I think a lot of folks go out to eat on holidays. Weeks before, all the popular restaurants post their holiday specials.

Mike and I ate at home on Christmas, as we do every holiday. If you are looking for party animals, don’t look our way!

For Thanksgiving, we had chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and roasted carrots. We had hoped to have a “pork roast” for Christmas, but it was meat we just couldn’t eat, so it was a rice and beans meal instead!

So far, chicken is the only meat we can eat here. But most of the time, we rely on fresh fish, shrimp, and lobster, or just vegetables for our main meal.

For us, here is the best part:

I think these old people look like they were having a Christmas Afternoon of beachy fun!

That brings us to the conclusion of the Christmas Q&A post. I have a list of several other interesting inquiries to address. If you have questions about Roatan or how we live here, now is a great time to get them in. You can post them in the comments here or send them directly to us at [email protected].