O Citrus Tree

In Creole New Orleans, the holidays come with rum and clementines.

- Jessica B. Harris

After many decades spent traveling in the Caribbean around the holidays, I can now understand the subtle signs that Christmas is coming. In Jamaica and Puerto Rico, it’s the appearance of fresh pigeon peas at the market. In Guadeloupe, the sounds of pork being hacked on wooden tables portend the roasts being prepared for the holiday meal. For me though, the holiday is not seen through crispy pork cracklings and peas and rice; rather it has a yellow-orange hue, the colors of citrus, because while I’ve adopted many of the traditions of my Caribbean friends, it’s my home in New Orleans that remains the locus of my Christmas celebrations.

There, I know the holiday season is upon us when I round the corner to my house and see my neighbor’s lemon tree overflowing with fruit, so abundant that they’ve begun to fall to the ground. Out my back door, the grapefruits hang from one tree in round globes, the Meyer lemons are plump and ready to pick, and the kumquats are dotting their tree like so many holiday decorations.