Christmas in the Cayman Islands

Not that I'm a huge fan of Christmas songs, but I've got to give a nod to Jona Lewie for giving me my favourite festive song, can't beat a bit of uplifting lyrics about being shot at in the trenches in the first world war etc.
Anyhow onto what's likely to be the last blog post of 2012.

One thing that I'm continually impressed with in the Cayman Islands is their ability to throw amazing free events.
Following Pirates Week was of course the American Thanksgiving, and a week later we could celebrate the end of a quiet (for Cayman anyhow) hurricane season.
Then the focus really switched to Christmas, or the holiday season as it's known this side of the pond.

The first of the season was the Camana Bay Christmas Tree Lighting, we were treated to choirs, Father Christmas looking a little hot, fake snow and oodles of Christmas Spirit.

Snow in the Cayman Islands!

This was one of the cooler nights and bizarrely enough, the fake snow actually made it feel chilly. I was almost tempted to don a jacket, but resisted.

Hot on the heels was another event at Camana Bay, 'The Parade of Lights" organised by Cayman27. This is the busiest I've ever seen it, absolutely packed.

A fantastic atmosphere, brilliant music and of course the main event; the parade of lights is essentially creatively decorated boats, with tonnes of twinkling lights.

Unfortunately, it was getting late for the kids (starting it at 7.30pm is a bit late for young'uns), so whilst we appreciated the boats, we didn't get to see them in full glory.

The next day, a mere hop skip and a jump from our condo was the "Singing Christmas Tree" which was an outdoor performance by a local church.

It really was incredible, the singing was outstanding as was the decor and attention to detail. We were really impressed with it actually.

Nestling within our social calendar was my firm's kids Christmas party, is there anything a child wants more than face painting, bouncy castles, games, candy floss, pizza and of course a visit from the main man himself.

We've been amazed at the effort some people have been putting into their own house and decorations. The following are photos I took at a house on South Sound Road. Apparently all the houses are judged by CUC (Cayman's utility company) and the winner of the best display gets free electricity for the month of December - for the owner's of this house sake, I hope they win!

Now with less than a couple of weeks to go until our first Christmas out here, it's time to stock up on Port, cheese, wine and turkey!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

FAKE GEORDIE & FAMILY