Fellow Citizens Ladies and Gentlemen I bring you greetings from my family and cabinet colleagues on this joyous occasion. The Christmas season is a time of sharing and caring for and with each other, as we celebrate the birth of Christ. It is the time when love and happiness are given freely among friends and sometimes even strangers in our midst. It is this love and spirit of giving that I hope will continue to fill our lives during the next year. Amidst all our plans for enjoyment of the season, I want to remind you of the many challenges that we face. I want to remind you of the less fortunate and disadvantaged among us and their needs. Importantly we need to remember that Grenada is not isolated from the rest of the world now facing an economic downturn. With the larger economies experiencing a recession, we must take every possible step, make every effort to be wise, to reduce waste and to produce more. We need to make adjustments. This is absolutely necessary if we are to weather this economic storm. It is in that regard that I have decided that among my gifts for Christmas will be the gift of a nutmeg plant. Sowing the seeds of productivity for our future generation. I urge you to do likewise in your own specific way. I also take the opportunity to remind you of the need to exercise temperance and moderation in your merriment. Ladies and Gentlemen, It is my hope that the new year brings you success, health and a renewed focus on rebuilding Grenada. We can all help to shape and fashion a bright and prosperous 2009 if we make the right choices and the right decisions. Most importantly however, is the need to pursue and implement them. We signaled our intentions clearly when we grasped the opportunity to build together and to take the destiny of our country into our hands earlier this year. I am confident that 2009 will be a wonderful year for us, if indeed we take on the challenges purposefully together. Ladies and gentlemen we have no control of our past but our present will certainly influence our quality of life and the course of our future. We can fulfill the hope of our fore fathers and fulfill the dreams of children, if we aspire and build together to achieve and succeed as one people. I wish you Seasons Greetings and a successful 2009. May god bless you and our nation. INSIDE GRENADA NEWS