The "The Tide Is Coming" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading an email from a friend who happens to live on the island known as Sint Maarten/St. Martin.  My wife and I met Barbara and her husband Diederick for the first time in 2014 while on vacation.  Barbara grew up in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, about 120 miles from my home in Lancaster.  Since that time, Carol and I have made yearly, sometimes by-yearly trips to the island for rest and relaxation and try and visit with Barbara and Dee.  He have made other friends due to Barbara and love to visit their beautiful home and witness Dee's gardening efforts and adventures.  While looking at a Facebook page the other day I found a post that had come from Barbara's blog from a few years ago.  The post had a story titled "What does 'the tide is coming' mean.  Have you ever heard that saying?  The following is parts of the original posting that Barbara made years ago and recently posted to her Facebook page.  I asked for permission to reprint the following and Barbara was more than willing to share it once again.  Perfect story for the Christmas season.

What does 'the tide is coming' mean?

The gardener (my hubby) told me this morning that his mother used to always say that.

Growing up in Philipsburg, he always though she meant a high tide was coming.

He would get a little scared because he didn't know how far the sea would come up.

He also knew though that she would always say that around Christmas and that because "the tide was

coming."  It was time to clean the house, change the curtains, etc.

People in the Caribbean traditionally do "spring housecleaning" at Christmas time.

He could never quite figure out what she meant.

We started trying to figure out where that expression came from. Since his mother was from Anguilla, we

figured it was a British expression.

Then the gardener said it was a time to clean the house and make it neat.  He said she tidied up.

Aha!

The tide is coming means to tidy up?

So now I am googling tidy up.

I find that tidy comes from an Old English word "tid", which means time.

So did "the tide is coming" mean it is time to tidy up?

That didn't quite fit either.

More research and, lo and behold, we figured it out.

The Christmas season.  She would always say the tide is coming at Christmas time.

Christmas season.

Christmas time.

Christmastide.

Shortened to the tide is coming.

Christmastide is another name for the Christmas season.  It is the festival season from Christmas Eve till

after New Year's Day or especially in England till Epiphany.

A tide is an obsolete or archaic term for time, period or season, such as Eastertide or Yuletide.

Did you ever hear the expression "the tide is coming"?

Perfect little explanation to help you understand where the word, or term Christmastide originated.  Hope you have a loving and merry holiday season no matter what religion you may hold true to your heart or believe; from my home to your home!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.