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The next day was not only another perfect Caribbean day, but it was Christmas Eve, and the twins knew from experience that Father Christmas arrived on board in the late afternoon. So, in the planning for the day in Saint Kitts, they told Jinnie that they didn’t want to go far; anyway, they had been on the Sugar Cane train last Christmas. They agreed to go ashore and look around the town only when it was promised they would be back in time for lunch and the club in the afternoon. But more importantly, they were going to visit the ‘Chocolate Factory’ while they were out, and they both adored chocolate.
There was no rush to go ashore as the ship was docked in Basseterre, the island’s capital, and the shops were all within walking distance. This meant there was no rush for Jinnie, Paolo, the twins, and Izzy to go to breakfast early, and they had a leisurely breakfast in the Epicurean before they headed back to their cabin, where Izzy generously applied Factor 50 to every exposed area. They all wandered down the gangway and into town, where the shops were quite busy with the locals doing their last-minute Christmas shopping and passengers from the two cruise ships tied up at the pier.
The twins were not impressed with the shops; there were too many selling clothes, jewellery, and electronics, and not enough selling toys and ice cream. Although they did rather like a shop selling fancy cakes and spent ages deciding what looked best while Mummy looked at the wristwatches in the next-door shop. Finally, the family arrived at the Chocolate Factory, and the twins were a little disappointed that the factory was very small, and all the machinery was behind glass. They were shown the cocoa pods and beans and how it was roasted, but to Willie and Millie’s disappointment, there were no rivers of chocolate like in Willy Wonka’s factory, and no Oompa Loompas to be seen.
But the best bit was to come as they walked into the showroom, where there were piles and piles of chocolate of all types, and best of all, everywhere were trays loaded with samples. The twins were in heaven and quickly decided that they weren’t keen on the dark chocolate, but the milk chocolate was pretty good, and they tried it with all sorts of nuts, raisins, biscuits, and candied bits. In the end, they decided that the ordinary milk chocolate was best, and Izzy bought them both a chocolate foil-wrapped Father Christmas but told them they could not eat them until Christmas Day as they had already had enough chocolate for one day.
They joined Granny and Grandad by their favourite pool and asked where Aunty Penny and Uncle Dan were. Granny Walsh told them they had talked to someone at breakfast who had told them about South Friars Beach, and they had gone there as it was supposed to be much less crowded than Cockleshell Bay, where the taxi takes you if you just ask to be taken to a beach. The twins wanted to have a quick lunch as they wanted to be in plenty of time for the afternoon Splashers session. So, it was hot dogs piled high with fried onions for lunch.
***
Jinnie, Paolo, and Izzy had been fortunate to find three sunbeds together; it was probably because it was still early, and not a lot of people had come back yet from excursions. Jinnie settled down with her Kindle and a cold drink, and it wasn’t long before she drifted off to sleep.
Jinnie’s phone woke her, and it took a moment to remember where she was before seeing on the display that it was Monica phoning her. “Hi, Monica,” said Jinnie. “What’s up?” “Nothing much,” replied Monica. “I just wanted to update you before the holidays. Things are moving, we have the new company set up, Trevor and I have decided to set up the initial bid team with people loaned from our respective companies and advertise for permanent staff straight after Christmas. Anderson and Bridgetown Rotis are both in and are willing to keep everything secret.” “You have been busy,” said Jinnie. “That’s not all I need to tell you, give me a second while I check my notes,” replied Monica. “Oh yes, you asked about ice cream. It is a separate contract and has two more years to run, so that’s not a worry.”
“I’ve been chatting to Nigel,” continued Monica. “He has told me what computer stuff to buy, and it’s all on order for delivery the day after Boxing Day, which is when Nigel and Camilla arrive. I have also spoken to your housekeepers at Hibiscus Villa, and the house will be ready for them with food in the fridge. I have had to advance them some money for shopping, but that is OK as Brian’s transfer has arrived. The bank account will be up and running after Christmas, and Trevor has sorted out a reservation for them to eat at the Continental on New Year’s Eve. In fact, that was quite easy as Brian and Belinda already had a booking; he just swapped things about a bit, so they are all dining together, and Pamela and I will be joining them.”
“I think that’s everything,” said Monica. “No, there are a couple of other things I must tell you. We have been doing a Christmas special at Aunty JoJo’s for the first time, ‘Jug Jug’ cutters, and it has been an amazing success.” “I’ve never heard of that,” replied Jinnie. “I know what a cutter is, but dare I ask what ‘Jug Jug’ is?” Monica laughed and said, “Well, I suppose it’s a bit like haggis; it’s made from pigeon peas, salted meat, corn, minced pork, and herbs, and is often served as an accompaniment to Christmas dinner. And I promise this is the last, I have had a chat with Brooke, I had to tell her we were setting up BearCat (Caribbean) as she’s a director, but I have only told her the very basic details of what we are up to. Can you explain it all to her on the 27th?” “Of course,” said Jinnie.
Jinnie had only read half a page of her book when the Tannoy burst into life with exactly the same announcement as on the previous Christmas cruise. The Officer of the Watch said that a strange, fast-moving object had been detected coming their way and they were contacting NASA to find out about it. Jinnie chuckled as she imagined all the P&O cruise ships making the same announcement, from the same script. Jinnie went back to her book and hardly took any notice of the next two announcements. The daily Horizon bulletin said Father Christmas would arrive on the funnel at 16:30 and she expected that to be the exact time he would arrive.
Izzy suddenly said, “Look up there, all the Splashers are out, ready for Father Christmas.” Jinnie looked up at the next deck, and dozens of children had been ushered to the railings by the Splashers’ supervisors and were waiting expectantly. Jinnie searched the rows of excited children but failed to spot the twins. The Tannoy burst into life once more, and it was announced that Father Christmas had arrived; he appeared from behind the forward funnel, and the surfers all started cheering and waving, and Father Christmas waved back.
After a couple of minutes, the Officer of the Watch announced that Santa was going to retreat to a cabin for something to eat and a sleep as he was going to have a very busy night delivering presents to all the children of the world. However, he would be back in the ship’s atrium from 10:30 tomorrow morning with presents for everyone under 15. With that, the surfers were led back to the Reef. Looking at her watch, Izzy said, “I’d better go and get the twins.” Jinnie smiled and replied, “We are packing up now, I’ll see you back in the cabin and we can get them ready for dinner.”
While getting ready for dinner, the twins explained that as they saw Father Christmas arrive last year, they knew what was happening and stood back to let the first-time cruisers get to the rail. Jinnie told them that was very kind of them and Father Christmas would likely leave them a special present in the cabin tonight, which started the twins speculating. They agreed that they would like a great big LEGO set and would really like the Tuxedo Cat they had seen on the Internet. Millie said, “It could be a friend for Larry.” Jinnie replied, “I don’t expect Santa has got one onboard his sleigh, but you never know, he might leave one at home like he did last year with your big presents.”
As usual, the twins tucked into their dinner. After a short discussion, as usual, they picked the same things from the menu. Tonight, it was tomato soup, followed by roast pork with roast potatoes, peas and carrots, but no apple sauce as ‘it looks like baby food,’ and of course, ice cream to follow. As they ordered, their waiter chuckled and said, “I had already written tomato soup and ice cream, you have it every day,” and everyone at the table laughed.
As the twins finished their ice cream, Jinnie said to them, “As you two have been very good today, we are all going to the theatre tonight as there is a pantomime on, and as a treat, you can stay up and watch it with us.” The twins looked at each other and then at Jinnie before chorusing, “What’s a pantomime?” Fortunately, Izzy quickly answered, “There are lots of different ones, all based on traditional tales like Robin Hood, Cinderella, Mother Goose, Dick Whittington, Snow White, and Aladdin. Tonight’s is Jack and the Beanstalk, and it’s all about a boy who sells his family cow for a bag of magic beans. One grows a huge beanstalk up into the clouds where a giant lives.” “Wow,” said Millie. “Will they really have a cow on the ship?” “You will just have to wait and see,” replied Granny Walsh.
The family had reserved seats in the second row of the stalls, and the twins were very excited and felt very grown-up sitting and waiting for the show to begin. It didn’t take long for the twins to be engrossed in the show, but it took them a little while to accept that Jack was played by a girl and his mother was a man. They loved Daisy, the pantomime cow, who danced across the stage, joined in the pop songs that were mixed into the show, and grabbed sweets that were thrown to the children in the audience. They laughed at the slapstick and silly jokes, and the adult jokes went right over their heads, just as was intended. They joined in with the “he’s behind you” and “oh no he isn’t, oh yes he is.”
At the interval, Grandad Walsh asked the twins if they were enjoying it, and they both cried, “Yes.” The twins loved it when Jack climbed the beanstalk and stole the goose that laid golden eggs for the village. Then they cheered and cheered when Jack cut down the beanstalk and the evil giant fell to his death. At the end of the show, they clapped and clapped, and then Jinnie said, “Come on, you two, if we hurry, we should be in time to listen to the Captain reading ‘The Night Before Christmas’ in the Atrium, and then it’s bedtime.”
As they walked back to the cabin, Paolo asked if the twins had enjoyed their Christmas Eve, and a very sleepy Willie said, “That was the best Christmas Eve ever,” and Millie added, “It was wonderful.” While Jinnie and Izzy got the sleepy twins ready for bed, the adults gathered in Paolo and Jinnie’s suite with drinks and chatted about the pantomime and how good it was. James said, “I really don’t know how they got away with some of those jokes, it’s a good thing they went over the twins’ heads.” Paolo chuckled and said, “I had heard of British pantomimes and thought they were for children; I have never seen one before, but it was clever, it worked on two levels, for both children and adults. It was very good.” Penny added, “It’s years since I saw a pantomime and I’d forgotten just how much fun they were.”
With the twins in bed, Jinnie and Izzy joined the rest of the group and told them how, despite being almost asleep, the twins had been saying how they loved the pantomime and the Captain’s story. Jinnie said, “They were so tired they didn’t even want to read their book tonight; they were asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.” Twenty minutes or so later, Izzy checked on the children, reported that both were sound asleep, and that she was going to nip back to her cabin to get the twins’ presents. The family had agreed that they each bring one present for the twins to open on Christmas morning, and they would have a special day with a big lunch at home in Potters Bar when they got home. They would invite Sir Nigel, George, Emma, and Freddie, and they would give the twins their real presents. The twins were more than happy to go along with the idea, as they said it would be like having two Christmases.
***
Jinnie woke up at the usual time and expected to hear excited noises coming through the communicating door, but it was perfectly silent. She took a peep, and both twins were still asleep, with the small piles of presents untouched beside each of their beds. Jinnie quietly slid over to the coffee machine and set it up for the first cup of the day. The loud click of it being turned on woke Paolo, and he sat up ready to accept the coffee, while Jinnie held a finger to her lips and pointed to the open communicating door.
They had nearly finished their coffee when they heard the twins moving and went into their suite to watch them opening their parcels from Father Christmas. The adults had all agreed to label their presents “from Father Christmas,” as the twins still weren’t sure if it was true or not. However, Jinnie recognised the handwriting on the gift tags, so she knew who had got what for the twins. When Jinnie and Paolo arrived, the twins had already opened Izzy’s gift, a pair of walkie-talkies, and were already discussing how they could use them.
Next up were matching parcels, which had gift tags in what Jinnie knew was her mother’s writing. The twins quickly ripped the wrapping paper off the presents to reveal matching aluminium water bottles that were customisable with stickers from sheets in the package. The next parcels had to be from Penny and Dan, as they and her and Paolo’s were all that were left, and these were much bigger than her carefully wrapped parcels.
Once again, the paper was rapidly ripped off to reveal new matching backpacks: pink for Millie and blue for Willie. But it was the way they were embroidered with the names Millie and Willie on the backs that impressed Jinnie; each was angled across a big letter D for De Luca. The twins were immediately impressed when they found places that would take their new water bottles and pockets for their walkie-talkies. Jinnie whispered to Paolo, “Do you think they have been coordinating presents, or is this all a fluke?”
Finally, the twins got around to opening the gift from Jinnie and Paolo, which seemed to be much smaller than all the others. The twins once more ripped off the paper to find matching boxes, which, when opened, were found to contain matching analogue battery watches. The twins were delighted and immediately put them on their wrists. Jinnie said, “Father Christmas must have heard that you know how to tell time, as these are proper watches and not easy digital ones.” Paolo, who had been reading the leaflet that came with the watches, said, “These are battery-powered, and when you are home, they will put themselves right every night from a radio signal. Clever, my watch can’t do that.”
***
The twins wore their watches to breakfast in the Epicurean and showed them off to the family, the Trans restaurant manager, and all the waiters and waitresses who made a fuss of them. As it was Christmas Day, all the adults got a glass of Bucks Fizz when they were seated, and so as not to be left out, the twins were given a glass of fizzy orange which could pass for Buck Fizz.
The Reef wasn’t open, as all the staff were manning the games that had been set up for the kids around Santa’s Grotto in the Atrium. But as it wasn’t open until 10:30, the family found loungers on deck near the twin pools and settled down for an easy Christmas Day at sea, with the ship moving very slowly towards the Island of St Maarten and their Boxing Day stop. The twins had brought their new backpacks with them, and in them were the walkie-talkies, and the water bottle, full of cold water, was in the bottle holder.
Jinnie wondered if giving the twins watches was going to prove the right thing to do when, at 10:25, they started worrying that Santa’s Grotto was about to open. But Penny and Izzy went with them to the Atrium, where they had a Costa Coffee in the Market Café. They kept an eye on the twins, who initially queued up at Santa’s Grotto, where they thanked him for their watches. He told them he had left presents for them at home and was about to give them sailor bears when they said that he had given them that last Christmas and Mummy had got similar bears with Britannia T-shirts when she and Daddy had been on the ship last spring. Santa said he was sorry he had forgotten and gave them both cuddly bunny glove puppets instead, which they immediately called Flopsy and Mopsy as they had recently read Peter Rabbit.
The twins visited all the games around the Atrium and won all sorts of things, ranging from chocolate, boiled sweets, and jellybeans to coloured pencils, Britannia-shaped rubbers, and keyrings. Every time they won something, they brought it to Aunty Penny or Izzy, who were in charge of their rapidly filling backpacks. Once they had visited every game, the twins decided it was time to show their booty to Mummy and Daddy. Jinnie wondered if it was going to be hard stopping them from gorging on sweets but was surprised when they both announced they were hungry, and according to their new watches, it was lunchtime.
Jinnie asked what they wanted to do for lunch. Did they want to go to the Buffet or to the Main Dining Room? But after a short discussion, the twins announced they wanted hot dogs and chips with lots of tomato sauce. Reluctantly, Jinnie agreed. She really fancied a salad as she knew that dinner tonight was going to be pretty special, so she was delighted when her mother said to the twins, “Come on, you two, let’s get your hot dogs. There’s no queue at the moment, and while we eat, Mummy and Daddy can go to the buffet.”
***
It had not been easy dragging the twins away from the pool. They had spent most of the afternoon swimming and splashing and generally having a wonderful time, but it was when they finally decided they wanted more food, and Izzy reminded them it was Christmas Dinner in the Main Dining Room, that they left the pool. The thought of turkey and pigs in blankets was too much, so they were washed and dressed in their best when the family assembled for the regular pre-dinner drink. Millie had a new dress and a bow in her hair, and Willie had on long trousers, a white shirt, and a Christmas bow tie. When Granny and Grandpa Walsh knocked on the door, Granny kissed them both and said how smart they looked.
When they were all seated for dinner and had their iced water and rolls, the waiter brought the special menu. The twins opened their menus and groaned. Jinnie asked, “What’s the problem, kids?” Millie replied, “There is no tomato soup in the starters.” “That’s because there is a separate soup course,” answered Jinnie. “If you want, you can have a starter, then soup, then the sorbet, before turkey. Then, on the next page, there are all the desserts, including your ice cream. After that, there are mince pies, stollen, vanilla butter, dates, and mandarins to have with the tea or coffee.” “Wow,” said Willie. “Can I order all those things?” “Of course,” replied Izzy, “but only if you can eat them.”
As usual, Willie and Millie got their heads together and chose to start with a tiger prawn cocktail. Willie told the waiter, “We have ‘prawn cocktails’ in Mummy’s restaurant, and Granny says tiger prawns are just big prawns.” The waiter said, “And then tomato soup?” “Yes, please,” said Millie, “and the sorbet. We had it last year, and it was good.” Willie took over, saying, “Then it’s turkey with extra pigs in blankets. We like them.” As usual, the waiter said he would take dessert orders later and moved on to Jinnie, who, before ordering her own meal, whispered to the waiter, “Please make sure their portions are not too big.” “Of course, madam,” he replied.
The twins demolished their prawn cocktail starters, tomato soup, and gin & tonic sorbet, and waited patiently for their turkey. Jinnie was happy to see that, despite them having four little pigs in blankets on their plates, the twins’ portions were indeed child-sized, with reduced amounts of turkey, peas, carrots, and sprouts, and only one roast potato. Once again, the twins cleared their plates, and as Willie put his knife and fork on his plate to signify he had finished, he said, “Gosh, that was good,” and Millie nodded enthusiastically. Jinnie asked if they still had room for dessert, and the twins chorused, “Yes,” so they ordered vanilla ice cream.
Izzy took the twins back to the cabin to head to bed while the rest of the family made their way to the Crow’s Nest for their usual after-dinner drinks. As Izzy tucked the twins up in their beds, Millie said, “That was the best Christmas ever.”
In Chapter 7 – The New Ennios Antigua
© WorthingGooner 2025
