Santa Claus is not always dressed in red and white, sporting a flowing beard!

Dec 24, 2020 Features / Columnists, News

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Ho Ho Ho it’s Christmas again…

By Enid Joaquin

Kaieteur News – Christmas is here once again, and children the world over are scrambling for toys and all the other goodies associated with the festivity.
Well, at least some are. Others are more concerned about what they’re going to eat, or if, in fact, they’re going to eat!
Sounds corny or cliché? Well unfortunately, it’s not! For some, that’s their reality; it is what they live everyday wondering what they will eat and sometimes, whether they would even enjoy that privilege.
That is where Santa Claus comes in.
Mind you, he isn’t always dressed in red and white with a black belt accentuating his very ample waistline and sporting that milky white beard! Ho, Ho, no!
Lots of times, Santa has no beard, almost no waistline and seldomly dresses in red and white.
There are many of these kinds of Santas and the children love them just like the other traditional Santas, um, I mean the bearded, red attired and belted ones.
One of these underdressed Santas is Dr. Joseph Haynes, of Toucan Drive, Amelias Ward, Linden.
Reflecting on the annual Haynes’ family ‘Christmas Tree light-up and toy giveways’ event that had to be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, Haynes grew pensive as he reminisced on his own childhood.
Those childhood memories, he acknowledged, triggered the need to give back. He wanted to share, especially with the less fortunate.
He said that as a child, he was always filled with optimism, as the season approached. There was the usual excitement as he and his siblings, wondered out loud, ‘what Santa would bring’. And then there were all the foods, to look forward to, such as: ham, pepperpot and garlic pork.
“We really looked forward to Christmas as children, because it’s a special time of year, and it was a very significant time for us.
We grew up poor, not having much, but when it came to Christmas, our father used to get the smoked ham and hang it up in a room, in a mesh bag, and it smelled so good, so we knew Christmas was coming. He used to prepare that ham like you wouldn’t believe. My mother was a hard worker, she was a businesswoman, and I was with her foot and foot, so dad would assist a lot in the home.
The children would also assist to get the home ready,” Haynes noted.
He said too that almost as significant, at the time, was the grand Mackenzie Sports Club Fair which, because it came in November, seemed to be the perfect precursor to Christmas, almost as if it was ushering in the Festive Season. “To me the Fair brought Christmas,” he declared.
“Christmas time was a big time back then. It was so great….we looked forward to the Christmas tree being decorated by our father, we used to help him to do the little things. We would then go to bed all excited and before you knew it, it was morning…Christmas morning, and we, we would scramble out of bed to see the gifts under the tree. We really thought it was Santa that brought them, we believed Santa was real!”
Haynes said it was a truly wonderful time, as they would hold hands and dance around the Christmas tree.
“Then we would have a big breakfast. The table would be all decked out with so many things. There was the Dutchman head (cheese) cereal, back then we only had cereal at Christmas and of course there was Milo, Pepperpot…the whole works.
After eating all these goodies, we went out to play. I used to look forward to my gun and socket. And we couldn’t wait to play hide and seek, get dressed up as Apache and Cowboy and then playing on the WasherPond (area cleared by bauxite mining),” he added.
The Haynes family was a big one – 13 children to be exact. It therefore goes without saying that their budget had to be well managed to afford the toys.
“My favourite gift was the toy gun, which came in its holster and sometimes, I would get a cowboy hat. On Christmas day after lunch, we would go on the Washer Pond and play,” Dr. Haynes continued.
His elder sister, Esther, who was visiting during his interview, chimed in by recalling that, “at Christmas I would sew the curtains and helped to put new covers on the cushions for the chairs. I also used to make dolls for myself and sisters…..even for some of the neighbours. Sometimes I made up to 15 dolls, because I knew that by doing that I was helping our parents save in on money to buy more important things.”
“And because it was 13 of us, we grew up learning the need to share. Our parents taught us that. So it is innately part of us, that is why we continue to have that passion to share and care for others,” she added.
With hard work and sacrifice, the financial standing of the Haynes family improved tremendously after their migration to the United States.
Before opting to study medicine, Dr. Haynes was first an engineer who enlisted in the navy. The other siblings did equally well, including Esther.
But life overseas, even with all it had to offer, was not enough for these two who, by then, had families of their own.
The problem was, they yearned to return home because they had so much to give back to their hometown. Also, Christmas in the US could never compare to a Guyanese one! Christmas abroad was not the same as in Guyana, Haynes mused.
To emphasize his point, he said that he tried to emulate his father, and what he had done when they were little, with his own children, but it was not the same.
“Christmas abroad is not like Christmas in Guyana, there is no Christmas that could compare to a Christmas in Guyana!”
Haynes returned to Guyana, with his wife, Esther Anne, and set up Clinics in both Georgetown and Linden. His sister Esther would follow later and delved into the private education sector, despite admonishments from friends not to do so.
These siblings had never forgotten where they came from, and certainly never forgot the Christmases they spent in Guyana as children.
Over the past couple of years, the siblings have been reliving many of their childhood memories, as Dr. Haynes, along with his wife, share Christmas cheer with hundreds of children in Linden at their Annual Christmas Tree Light Up.
Haynes pointed out, “My wife and I, we celebrate our birthdays at Christmas, even though we were born in September and October. We celebrate at Christmas by giving back to the community. That is why we do the ‘light-up and the toy giveways’.”
Dr. Haynes said, “Our family gives, and I have a beautiful family, because we get, when we give, the more we give, the more we receive, and that is a philosophy that we were taught by our parents. So we give to others and we want others to try to do the same…share with others, especially now, because it is the season of sharing and we need to help our children to understand how important it is to give, and to realize that it’s a beautiful thing….that there is joy in giving!”
He added, “I want to say to people the world over, we need to love more, we need to live more, we need to care more, and we need to give more and stop looking, to receive more, because the more we give, the more we’ll be blessed.
We give because God has blessed us and we want to pass on some of these blessings. So when Christmas comes around, it provides the perfect opportunity for us to share!”
Given how important it is to give back to the society, Dr. Haynes expressed disappointment that he has been unable to host the annual ‘Christmas Tree light-up and toy giveways’ event this year. He is nevertheless optimistic that “Christmas will come early next year because we have all the toys here….hundreds of toys and we look forward to making many children happy!”

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