Dawn Fraser
Appearances
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
Okay, so many of you know that my family comes from Trinidad and Tobago. And my family came through New York and then moved to California in the United States. And so when I moved to New York, I totally expected that I would be able to be free, to meet other first-generation Trinidadians, and just have a good time. But my first year in New York, my mom calls me up.
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
And she's like, Donnie, you're coming home for Christmas? And I was like, yeah, I'm coming home for Christmas. What's up? She's like, well, I need you to do me a favor. And I was like... Okay, well, what do you want me to do? So she's like, first, first, you're gonna go run down to Nostrand Avenue, and Nostrand Avenue is like where all the Trinidadians live.
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
She's like, go run down to Nostrand Avenue, you're gonna pick up 12 Jamaican patties, okay? Six chicken, six beef, then you're gonna pick up 12 roti, 12 roti skin, okay? Bring these 12 roti skin, bring these 12 Jamaican patties, and bring some salt fish back with you from New York to California. And I was like, wait, what? Like, why would I do that? Why? That makes no sense.
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
And she said, well, don't you want a Caribbean Christmas in California? I was like, yeah, we can all want a Caribbean Christmas in California. She's like, well, then bring the food now, man. I was like... I was like, okay, but I was mad because I had this suitcase. And my suitcase, you know, I'm going from New York to California, so it's going to be warm. I just have my flip-flops, my tank tops.
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
But now I have to take all this stuff out of my bag to pack all this other stuff for my mom. So I'm just aggravated. So I pack all the food, the saltfish, the roti, all the kind of stuff, and I bring the stuff to California so that we can have a Caribbean Christmas. And I get there and I was like, mom, you know, there are black people in California, right?
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
You know, I can go to Oakland and go get some saltfish and some roti. She's like, no, no, but it's not the same. We want the good authentic stuff from New York. And I was like, Really? Okay, whatever, whatever. And then, you know, we have a good feast and we live it up. The next year, my mom calls me up again and she's like, Dawn, you coming home for Christmas?
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
And I was like, yeah, I'm coming home for Christmas. Why, what's up? She's like, well, I needed to do me a favor. I'm like, okay, what do you need me to do this time? She's like, well, this year we're going to go to Trinidad for Christmas, okay? And I was like, oh, sweet. So I'm thinking to myself, this is awesome. I don't need to bring any type of like roti. I don't need to bring any saltfish.
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
I don't need any Jamaican patties. I was like, okay, cool, cool. What do you need me to do? She says, go run down to the Pathmark, okay? The supermarket. And you're going to go pick up a 30 pound turkey. Okay? You're gonna take this turkey, you're gonna put it in the freezer, and you're gonna deep freeze this turkey, all right? You're gonna bring this turkey with you from New York to Trinidad.
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
And I was like, wait, what? There's no turkeys in Trinidad? She's like, you don't want a good, big Caribbean Trinidadian turkey for Christmas? And I was like, well, yeah, I want a big... Trinidadian, I guess, or whatever. She's like, then bring the turkey. And I was like, I was like, mom, mom, seriously, this sounds like foul play, okay? This is like literally crossing the line. And is this legal?
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
You know, she's like, just bring it, just bring it. So I take this turkey and I put it in my freezer and I deep freeze it for about two weeks. And then the day comes where I'm flying off to Trinidad for Christmas, and it's wrapped up in all this foil, all this aluminum, all this type of stuff, and I throw it in my backpack.
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
And my mom lives in this little, little tiny village way in the corner of Tobago. And so in order to get there, I first have to fly from JFK Airport to Miami Airport, from Miami Airport to Trinidad's airport, to Trinidad's airport, a little two-propeller jet into Tobago. I'm going through this process and I still got this 30 pound turkey on my bag.
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
But as I get to Trinidad's immigration, I'm starting to drip. And I don't know if this is going to work. So I am looking at the immigration official and he says to me, mom, you have anything to declare? And I'm thinking, okay, I don't know if I need to declare a turkey. So I say, no. He's like, okay. I got on the other little two propeller jet. I get to Tobago.
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
Turkey's dripping, dripping, dripping, dripping. I'm like, this is just going to be a wreck. It would take two hours to get to my mom's little village in Charlottesville. I'm there. I'm happy. I was like, I've gone this long, extensive trip to bring this turkey. I get there. I was like, mom, here it is. Your turkey has arrived. It's here. It's here. She's like, oh, good, good.
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
Go put it in the freezer quick, quick, because everybody's waiting. Your sister, she brought the ham. And your cousin, he brought the three-layer cake. I was like, wait, the three-layer cake? From where? She's like, oh, he just brought it from Florida and he put it up in the, in the, in the, in the, he put it up in the area, you know, above in the plane.
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
And I was like, so wait, I brought a turkey. My cousin brought this three-layer cake, my sister brought this ham, and here I was thinking that I was gonna be saving the day with my big ol', like, you know, turkey. And that's when it hit me that all these years of, like, traveling back and forth with food and all this stuff wasn't a pain. It was just something that, I guess, that our family did.
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
We just travel with food. That's what we do, I guess, as a family. As a Fraser, this is what I'm expected to do. So last year, when I was returning to California for Christmas, when my mom called me up and she's like, you're coming home for Christmas? I was like, yeah, I'm coming home for Christmas.
The Moth
The Moth Radio Hour: Menorahs, Presents and Palm Trees - December Holiday Stories
And I looked down at my suitcase, it was empty and ready to be filled with whatever food she needed.