Christmas’ two daughters and son have all graduated from college and moved away from home.

“I feel blessed, with three beautiful kids raised in the ghetto, all have gone on through college and are on their own working for money,” he says.

As he speaks, a song played on a piano down the hall cuts the silence.

Christmas pauses for a second to listen to the music and smiles briefly before turning back down the hall and walking toward the next room.

Homeward Bound

Christmas pauses from sweeping between the rows to talk about Dominica.

He has returned home only five times in the last 21 years, including trips to bury his mother and his brother and to attend his niece’s wedding.

Christmas stops work for a moment to talk about what he hopes will be his final trip to Dominica.

“I’ll work six more years and then I’ll go back to the islands. I’ll not be up here with a dripping nose all winter,” he laughs.

Christmas says he already has a house in Dominica waiting for him—a purchase he made with money he and his wife had saved.

“So now when I go, I’ll have a place to rest my head,” he says.

—Staff writer Joseph P. Flood can be reached at flood@fas.harvard.edu.