Winter Wonderland Wackness

Having grown up in the Northeastern United States (New Jersey and New York) and gone to undergrad and grad school in Boston no less, my expectations for Christmas and anything considered a "winter wonderland" are admittedly high.   A "Winter Wonderland" conjures images of snowcapped everything with rolling hills of snow and candy canes with snow on top.  Elves walking in the snow to and from Santa's workshop as reindeer practice their flying and landing in the SNOW for their special night, well really their ONLY night out, of the year.  With my parents now residing in Florida and having had an occasional, OK, one Christmas, spent in Mexico, I do accept that snow does not have to be present for a wonderland to be created.  But that snowless wonderland had better be damned good. 


Alas, such was not the case this evening at the "Winter Wonderland" event at the Kensington Oval, a cricket stadium near Bridgetown, where magic and spectacle was to be the order of the evening.  My expectations were not high.  I hate to admit it, but I had little faith, but wanted Lily and her girlfriends with whom we'd made the journey, to feel the sense of Christmas and joy that I'd had as a kid.  While I know it is impossible to compare the presentations of say, the Icecapades or Radio City Music Hall or one of the New York ballet company's Nutcracker, to any cultural event in a developing country, I was trying to remain open and leave my staggering expectations at the door.  I did get a little nervous when no alcohol was available for consumption in a country where you can buy a beer or rum and Coke at the fast food joint, but I thought, hey, this is for the kids.  I don't need no stinking alcohol!  Right.


I cheered for a school choir who got the crowd in the mood with some holiday songs and really got into a steel band called Mosaic who seriously could have been the only act on the docket and it would have been enough for me.  When the sun tucked itself in for a long night of sleep, the parade began.  We started with a gingerbread house lit up like the best house on the block and a wee Hansel and Gretel walking along side it.  Cute.  I mean, nothing for me to write home about, but it was quite lovely for the kids.  It took a really long time for the golf-cart driven float to make its way around the stadium and I started to wonder if it was just keeping Bajan time or where they just trying to get the crowd excited with a slow crawl.  Dora and Diego came next and got the kiddies in the audience on their feet!  People were cheering and screaming and running onto the field!  Oh, OK, no security then, just an announcement to please return to their seats so that all could enjoy the parade. 


Turns out there wasn't too much to the parade.  Some characters from Nickelodeon, a black Santa (of course, he can be whatever you want him to be!), some elves and sexy cheerleaders.  I said it.  Sexy Caribbean cheerleaders at a kids' show.  Who even knew there were cheerleaders in Barbados?  What the heck do they usually cheer for?  Tonight, it was for Santa and Diego.  There was a little jumping up and some serious dance hall moves, but all in good fun, right?  That's as far as we got.  After the shabby little parade, a few musical acts took the stage one by one.  Looking, at best, like hopeful recording acts at an industry event, they had even the locals screaming for Santa and trying to boo them off the stage.  While I don't condone that sort of behavior (I can't handle American Idol reject shows and ice skaters falling because they have so much faith in themselves, even if we don't.), I could see the point.  This was a childrens' show and I didn't see much else for the kids to see.

As we left the stadium, we saw throngs of audience members racing to their cars.  Lily was none the wiser.  She didn't even know there was more to see and enjoyed the characters in the parade, however paltry the offering.  My dear friend Wendy and her family stayed to report that eventually, Dora returned to the stage.  Stage.  Envision the stage at your primary school sitting in the middle of a football field and that will provide you with the visuals.  She sang a couple of songs and Diego dirty danced with a cheerleader.  Wendy and family rolled out at about 8:30, nearly 5 hours after we'd arrived.  She is a trooper and I thank her for staying so long to prove to me that I must seek my cultural events, if a Christmas Spectacular can be called such, elsewhere.

(I hope to have some pictures soon.)  It seems that I psychically knew this would be rubbish and I left my camera at home for the first time in weeks.  Apparently, with no lighting on the field, the only way to get a decent photo was if multiple flashes were going off at once.  Brilliant.


(c)  Copyright 2010.  City Mom in the Jungle.