Christmas starts now - why wait for December?

Christmas starts now – why wait for December?

Nov 01, 2019 Editorial

A word of thanks is owed to the foreigners for bringing back Christmas to Guyana. Guyanese should express no discontent that they waited until late October to share the news, even though many may think that it reeked of Scroogelike miserliness. Just take Christmas from November, all Guyanese are due.
Guyanese are due an early start for this year’s Christmas, given what occurred late last year. There we were with visions of sleigh rides in the streets of downtown Georgetown, and then came that most terrible of days in the annals of this country. December 21st, regardless of devotions, must rank among the more sordid that have unfolded in the notorious histories of this diseased habitat. Because December 21st last year sucked the sparkle and life out of any Christmas cheer in 2018. It has been downhill to the far depths of the gutter since.
Country and citizen have been smeared and stench-emanating since then. Every development has been a horror show, a daily Halloween with ghoulish political spirits raging across the reaches of this land. From parliament to penthouse to those other places where Guyanese regularly prostitute themselves, it has been the same nasty ‘putta-putta.’ That was the extent of local revelry for almost a year now. Flights of the spirit, wars of words, and rushing around in frenzies to find judicial friends, diplomatic friends, and international friends. The receptions have been mixed. Through it all, regular folks (people like us) have been forced to watch their worlds degrade and disintegrate.
Christmas 2018 went down the drain; it took all with it. Santa Claus was a gaunt and cheerless apparition. Carols crumpled. Stores stood as shocked silhouettes, mere shadows of anything resembling the famed Guyanese Xmas spirit. It was just the beginning. Old Year’s (2018) and New Year’s (2019) sounded hollow, seemed hollower, despite the loud music and the dancing on the decks. There was a Titanic air about it all. So, too, departed the months, without so much as a solemn memory, a grand tribute. Funereal it was; with the bickering and cursing and gouging of one another in this most dysfunctional of national families. The only people keeping up appearances were the political people, who busied themselves with their constitutional and judicial abacuses. What a bunch of heathens; pagans of the most pungent sort. What is there not to love about them?
Those were the highpoints that soaked local existence for all of this still incomplete 2019. It has been a good year, all things considered; matters could have been so much worse. Now good news is here. Genuine good news not pretended or imagined good news. It should mean a different Christmas Season; even if only in the atmospherics alone. Bring it on down!
Thus, rollout the carpet for the oil production news from those fine foreign gentlemen. Let the celebrations begin. Those may have already been in motion, if corroborating political banking records can be obtained. In the meantime, Guyanese are due a rollicking good time. They were cheated last year. And even though nothing would be trickling down just yet from Big Brother, a little free for all would be nice. Why not a relaxation of the curfew? Make it official, if only to normalize what hardy souls observe in the breach.
Yes, it is only November-and early, too-but citizens need to treat myself. A little King Cole (cold ones also), some frosty treats (who needs a snowman anyway?), and a little jingle in the ear can bring a twinkle to the heart. Years ago, December brought a baby in a stable. This year, some strange men come from afar bringing special gifts with them. None should mind that they have made a production of it. Most Guyanese will take it.
As the Xmas spirit intensifies and immerses, a word of thanks is due the political Herod(s) around. They could have had elections around this time of the year, and just ponder on what that would have done to the festivities. We must be thankful for small visions. March, it is. Beyond that is up for grabs. That is why we say, take this November Christmas, and savour it while it can be had.