Steve Hanks Castles in the Sand painting

Steve Hanks Castles in the Sand paintingSteve Hanks A Sense of Belonging paintingClaude Monet Woman In A Green Dress painting
no churches under the steeples, only retail space, but the steeples are very picturesque. All the retail spaces and the crowded streets are full of the sound of carols wafting endlessly over the heads of the Christmas shoppers and the natives. The natives in the photographs are dressed in approximately Victorian costume, the men with tailcoats and top hats, the women with crinolines. The boys carry hoops, the girls rag dolls. The natives fill up the spaces in the streets, hurrying merrily about, making sure there are no empty blocks or unbustling squares. They drive sightseers about in horse-drawn carriages and char-a-bancs, sell bunches of mistletoe, and sweep crossings. Cousin Sulie says they always speak to you so nicely. I asked what they said. They say, "Merry Christmas!" or "A fine evening to you!" or "Gahbressa sebberwun!" She was not sure what this last phrase meant, but when she repeated it as she had heard it, I identified it, I think.
It is Christmas Eve all year long on Christmas Island, and all the shops and stores of Noel City and Yuleville, 220 of them according to the brochure, are open 24/7/365.