From when I was about 5-8 every Christmas my family and I would go to Bermuda to stay with our grandparents who owned the “New Queen Restaurant”, a popular Chinese food stop for local regulars, Asians, and rich, white people looking for fine Asian cuisine. To my brother and I, Bermuda Christmas' meant unlimited servings of lemon meringue pie, fresh fish and chips, and anything we asked the cooks to make us. It consisted of fun trips to the Botanical gardens, fishing for sharks, and dozens of presents supplied by my grandparents, aunts, uncles, & as they’d have us believe, “Santa”. I was convinced that I must’ve been pretty up on the “Nice” list due to my ample gift supply, which, compared to my brother’s, was at least 6-7 presents more.
My favourite gift of all was a stuffed bear sporting a red striped shirt and patchy jean-overalls. I named him “Beary”, we became inseperable. The cool thing about Beary was that he recorded and repeated sounds when I pressed his hand. So, during a late-night karaoke party, I decided it would be fun to record my grandmother. Like magic, Beary could finally sing… Or screech, depending on how you like Chinese opera. I showed all of Bermuda my new best friend--the waiters, the hotel workers, and flaunted especially to my brother, who was super envious of my cool new toy. On the plane back to Canada, after giving an impromptu Beary concert to showcase his talent to the rest of the cabin, my mother took him away from me. And when she finally gave him back, I pressed his little hand. Nothing. I tried again but again, no sound came out of him. Beary was dead.
A Prime example of Chinese Opera for the fearless:
This is a true story,
Princess Kimberley of the Bermuda Triangle
Other gifts included: doodle jean-bear (he came with fabric markers), christmas wreath earrings, christmas bell earings, a cat with an egg-shaped christmas ornament pendant that sung "joy to the world" upon pressing a little button, red velvet dress, more stuffed animals (a rabbit, a Bermuda treefrog with a camera), stocking filled with stuffer-gifts, an advent calendar (of which i proceeded to eat upon realizing that it was already the 24th), and some more that i can't remember off the top of my head
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