The Christmas spirit is in full swing down here in Belize. A lot of the houses and businesses have festive lights and inflatable Santas and snowmen can be seen everywhere.  Christmas carols can be heard just about everywhere you go and of course they all seem to have a nice Caribbean beat to them.

A big tradition down here is to spruce up your home for the holidays, so you see a lot of new construction going on as well as everything getting a new coat of paint for the holidays. In town, the streets are alive with people shopping and talking to friends they meet along the way, everybody here really gets into the Christmas season. The other day we passed a Salvation Army volunteer in front of the bank and he was playing Christmas songs on a very shinny trumpet. Remember back in the day in the states when the volunteers would play an instrument or sing Christmas carols instead of just sitting there ringing their bell.

We are also getting in the Christmas spirit by sprucing up our home for the holidays, mostly because it’s done and it is move-in time. We have been out buying furniture, paintings and other decorating items to make it a home. With so much beautiful art and furniture around it’s tough deciding just what pieces to take home. We did find a couple more paintings that we thought would be a great addition to the new home as well as having an entertainment center made from Purple Heart hardwood.

We did manage to get a couple strings of Christmas lights up and I found a new palm shoot that was coming up from a tree that had been cut down. And guess what, it looked just like a Christmas tree. Who says a tree has to be traditional, just a few fronds off the bottom and it was ready to go.

Here is what the outside looks like so far, there is still a lot of little things to be done, but this is the kind of stuff we love to do. Now all the landscaping starts, along with finding all the colorful tropical plants and deciding where to put them.

We took down a few big trees around the house to give a little more open feeling and had another load of gravel brought in to create a nice sitting area just off the side porch. And yes, the toucans have migrated over to their new permanent home where they will live forever.

The guest house now looked a little bare without them, but no sooner did they fly the coop than a big iguana and her baby moved in. I know we need to stop going by the wood carver, but he does such beautiful work, his prices are great and he is on the side of the road we drive down all the time.

There is still a lot of detail work inside we need to do, such as getting doors on the closet and the laundry room (which are being made from mahogany for under $100 each), building shelves and a bunch of other small stuff. It’s not completely done nor decorated but here are some pictures of what it looks like so far.

After six months of living in a small casita and sitting on hardwood chairs, we finally got a chance to check out the recliners in front of the new TV. Our butts and backs really appreciated it, and the first movie in the new house was Christmas Vacation. Tonight maybe Christmas Story, Bad Santa or the Grinch, we have to get in as many Christmas shows as we can before the season is over. The next couple of nights the temp is supposed to be a little cooler in the evenings, so hot chocolate and schnapps will help make it feel a little more like Christmas. Now it is still 85+ during the day, so ice cold beer during the afternoon and then hot drinks in the evening, what could be better. Okay… temperature update, last night our digital temp gauge stopped working when it hit 52 degrees, and I know it got colder than that. We have never even considered putting a heater in the house, A/C yes, but a heater? I’m sure this is just a freak cold snap and should be gone in a day or so. Whoever thought it got this cold down here in tropical Belize.

Speaking of cold, we picked up a used beer fridge for the garage the other day. Got it for $125 usd and he even gave us a two-month warranty on it, you can’t beat that. So the fridge is stocked and ready for anyone who might happen to stop in or come down to stay here. Of course, the beer in the photo will not be the actual beer we will be serving you as it needs to be cycled in and out often to keep its freshness. So come on down and have an ice cold Belikin, the guest house is now ready for visitors.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Belize Navidad from Kelley & Dave.