Let’s take you down memory lane. What was your best Christmas experience growing up? What did Christmas mean to you?
As a child, Christmas Day had its magic. The aroma of Chicken Stew emanating from the kitchen where mummy dearest would spend time cooking a pleasant Christmas meal for the family, while dad would select and play different Christmas Carols and Little Oto would wake up early to shower and admire her Christmas dress, are my fondest Christmas memories.
I remember a red polka dot Christmas dress I loved so much. I recently made a sketch of this memorable dress. Mother always knew what to buy for Little Oto (the shakara girl). 🙂
On Christmas day, mum would let us drink and eat as much as we wanted. Unlike regular days where you get a miniature piece of meat, Christmas days were different. The piece of chicken would be larger and you could have more than one piece.
And just like any child who is given an opportunity to do what he/she isn’t allowed to do, we would abuse this privilege and drink as much soft drinks as we could. I remember Dr. Pepper bottled drinks which we loved so much and how we would collect bottle lids so we could use them as “counters” (as it was fondly called).
Mummy dearest would do the cooking and we’d all just show up to eat. Now, despite the fact that my mummy loves to be in control of things happening in her kitchen, she is able to take the back seat on Christmas day and just show up to eat.
And Dad??? Hmmm… Daddy dearest is a true African King. He has been turning up to dine since 200BC and hasn’t stopped. Daddy always gets the portion of meat we only dream of. He eats like a King!!!
Read More: What Nigerians eat during Christmas
Dad worked with a multi-national that had the tradition of organizing annual Christmas parties for their staff and children. Daddy and mummy would attend Members’ Night (dinner) the day before and return home to prepare for the children’s party. We would look forward to this event, so much we’d get our grades up in school and be of our best behavior so no one would tell us we couldn’t attend the party. It was the kind of Christmas party any child would love to attend.
The goody bags were the most exciting part of this event. We would receive bags filled with lots of useful items such as school bags, water flask, toys, sweets/candies, books and drawing/writing materials, snacks, wrist watches and items we could flaunt in school the next ‘term’. I even received a lovely dress once.
Those were the best years of my life!
What Christmas Memories do you have? Share your Christmas memories with us.
