Noddy recalls tailor-made Christmas disappointment

All Noddy Virtue wanted for Christmas in 1987 was a pair of acid-wash jeans, the must-have style among boys in his district.

However, what the then 11-year-old unwrapped instead was tailor-made pants his mother stitched together because she simply couldn't afford the trend. That disappointment, he says, changed the entire season.

It remains one of his most vivid childhood memories -- a Christmas he will never forget.

"The whole a me bredrin dem inna acid-wash jeans and me inna tailored pants," Virtue recalled. "Me did upset, me feel a way. Me start cry and me never go nowhere. Me stay home," he said.

While the community gathered outside with starlights, fire rockets, balloons and the heavy sound system humming into the night, young Noddy stayed in, too embarrassed to "blend in wid the crowd".

His mother, Lavern Agatha Powell, tried her best to soothe him, reminding him that times were hard. But the sting of not fitting in stayed with him long after the fireworks faded.

Looking back, he came to appreciate that the moment was never about fashion, it was about sacrifice.

"Growing older and realising some of the things your parents go through...I learn a lot from that moment," he said.

"I never ask my mother for anything after that. She taught us well. She grow us grounded."

Those early Christmases were shaped by the natural beauty of country life, where even the land seemed to prepare itself for celebration.

Virtue remembers the season as a time when "the earth itself change", with new grasses pushing up through the soil, flowers blooming, and the air shifting into something cooler, sweeter, and full of hope.

CHANGE IN THE ATMOSPHERE

"When yuh see the leaf dem a change off and the grass getting greener, we know Christmas near," he said. "The atmosphere just full of joy and love."

Yet even that magic paled beside the brightness of his mother, the woman who lit up the entire district each December. To hear him speak of her is to understand how deeply she shaped his heart.

"She's not just my mother. She was my best friend," he said tenderly.

As the only son, he clung to her, and she to him. At Christmas time, she travelled to downtown Kingston, from St Elizabeth, and returned with everything needed to transform their home into the centre of celebration. She bought fire rockets, balloons, starlights, and treats that made the whole community look forward to the season.

"Christmas morning she is the first lady wake up in the community," Virtue told THE STAR, smiling at the memory. "She a pop like 20 fire racket and a sing on top a her lungs and seh, 'Merry Christmas!' Then she a fry fish, with the good chocolate tea. It was a joy to watch her."

Her generosity extended far beyond their household. Powell passed away in 2019, and Virtue, who was living in the United States, only managed a brief visit before she died. Since then, the season has carried a bittersweet weight.

"Me miss my mother," he said. "Christmas time is a different vibe with her. She was the joy."

Even as his career grew, especially after placing second in Digicel Rising Stars in 2005, Christmas never drifted far from the lessons she taught him. Fame, he insists, didn't change much.

"Take fame out of it...a man is just a man," he said. "Each one help one; that has not changed." Still, the busy life of an artiste sometimes pulled him away from home.

He remembers one Christmas spent on the road for three months, far from family, calling it one of the most heartbreaking holidays of his life.

But the first Christmas after Rising Stars brought a new kind of joy, the joy of giving back.

"That Christmas change the whole scene," he said. "It was the first time me could buy gifts for my mother and my family. Rising Stars was a blessing. Me watch my mother struggle to put food pan the table, struggle fi pay bills, and when me could give back, it made me feel so good."

Today, even though he hasn't been home in three years, his idea of a perfect Christmas still mirrors the ones his mother created: music playing, food cooking, laughter rolling through the house, and him singing in the middle of it all.

For Virtue, the true spirit of the season has never been about gifts or glamour.

"Holiday is for your loved ones and good friends," he said. "It brings back joy, peace and respect."

And as Jamaicans prepare for another holiday season, some in joy, some in hardship, his message is simple but powerful.

"Keep your head up. Put God first. You are above ground and that is the greatest. Look out for the children, they are the future. Blessed love to one and all."