Once again we have come to the season of Christmas, one of the most beautiful seasons of the year- an annual festival commemorating the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25, as a religious and cultural festival celebrated by billions of people around the world.
Growing up, Christmas was always the best time of the year, exciting and dazzling. It has always been a tradition in my family to decorate our home with Christmas tree, cards, flowers and lights. We also slaughter either live chicken, turkey or goat depending on what was within the reach of my parents.
My parents would buy us new clothes and pairs of shoes which we adorned on Christmas day. The Christmas dress were specially made for the season by the family tailor who took our measurements. It doesn’t end there, at Christmas we ate plenty of rice and stew and some extra meats and were taught to be charitable.
Christmas was about the only time we were allowed as kids to wander around the neighbourhood, visiting friends , neighbours and relatives who in turn welcomed us , served us with foods, biscuits, sweets, soft drinks, home baked chin-chin , cakes, corn breads and sometimes gifts of freshly minted coins.
The favorite place we do visit was Uwani-Enugu where my aunt, my mother’s sister lived with her rich husband and children. They had an impressive home with lights strung up on trees. They framed their home with various still life or animated figures. We were somehow impoverished . They never visited us but going to their home and neighbourhood somewhat felt like we were in a dream world. I recall the day they shut their door on my face and thundered that I go back to my poor home and poor parents. I wasn’t resentful of their affluence, but rather those trips were aspirational and fired my zeal to work hard in life and to break away from poverty.
Fast track to 2021: This December, my daughter excited as ever about Christmas had asked me if we shall be decorating the house and I told her ‘NO’. She wanted to know if we shall be travelling to the country side for Christmas and again my response was ‘NO’. The roads and the countryside are unsafe. Risking the family on such trip will be insane.
I told my daughter that this year’s Christmas is cancelled but that we can pretend that all is well. We can play the carols and ‘jingle bells’ Her eyes swelled with tears as she asked me ‘why?’.
I hate to see my daughter cry because she is always a joyful and loving child. She love to play and she always looked forward to a happy holiday season. She liked the magic of Christmas. She like Christmas trees , Christmas lights , gifts and the carols. She liked to make the house look gay and liked to see Santa with his two blue eyes, small pointed nose and snowy white beards. But I am not just in the mood of Christmas this season. For a working poor parents, Christmas is stressful.
But somehow the joy we feel at this time of the year about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ help us break through the difficulties, the challenges , the stresses and the strains that most of us experience from time to time. Everyone I know love the blessed joy of Christmas.
My daughter can’t still understand why Christmas is cancelled and why there will be no decorations nor expensive toys for her and her other siblings. She couldn’t understand why I am not excited about this very Christmas.
Again, she asked me if it’s because of Corona Virus or because of Buhari that Christmas is cancelled. I guess she had a clue that this government is a problem but not the whole problem. The regime has made things worse and the pandemic added to the horror and hardship.
Just when we think the world had overcame the pandemic, then enter Omicron , a variant of the decease said to be more-deadlier than COVID 19. Nigeria’s CDC already identified few cases of the Omicron virus in the country. We hope it isn’t as deadly as being predicted, and that the world is not locked down again for two consecutive years.
The truth about viruses is that they never goes away completely. It continues to mutate because they live in animals. Already , the global supply chain disrupted by the first lockdown has caused unprecedented global food crisis around the world. The last thing the world need now is another strict lockdown.
I told my daughter that we aren’t alone, we are not the only family facing difficult situation; Christmas will be suspended in many homes as many homes are without food and will be without food due to worsening economic crisis. I am keeping this year celebration low keyed and inexpensive as much as I could and shall do everything about Christmas except the things that require my spending big money. But what can I possibly pull off this season without spending big bucks?
I tried to explain to my daughter how the government had made sure we have a suspended Christmas and that rather than celebrating we shall be prepared for a very tough new year. Our leaders were nice enough to pre-warn us that PMS will be sold at between N320/Liter to N340 by January 2022 as against the current price of N165/ltr.
Such outrageous increment in fuel pump price will have a huge implication in the sense that the price of foods and services will escalate and will be outside the reach of ordinary people. Already people are dying because they cannot afford their live saving medications which are import dependent.
I tried to make my daughter understand that rather than spend money on Christmas decorations and expensive gifts that we are better to be prepared for a tough and rough January by saving what we have for the coming year and hope that we shall not starve to death because that’s exactly what our leaders want to achieve.
As we commemorate Christmas, we must remember that Christ is the reason for the season. I appeal to the conscience of those whom the benevolent God had broken their kernels to remember the needy , especially those in prisons , orphanages , old people’s homes and the homeless. We must remember to also feed the poor . These are essentially what Christ will want us to do on his birthday.
How I wish I could get my children exactly all they wanted for Christmas. I am however sure about doing what my mum and dad did for my siblings and me and be sure to find some inexpensive gifts for them and teach them about being charitable even at the most difficult times and about reasonable expectations.
I know how excited I was about Christmas growing up. How I told my classmates what I got for Christmas. I want my little angels to have that kind of exciting feelings despite the difficult times. I will plan some inexpensive activities and help them make a choice of inexpensive gifts. Sometimes the beauty of the most beautiful Christmas isn’t about the most dazzling gifts and most perfectly planned activities. Sometimes the beauty of this time of the year is simply about being together with family and loved ones and knowing you’re deeply cherished. It’s in my plan that the family spend quality times together through the season.
I know there are those who wouldn’t know it’s Christmas except we come through for them. My kids might eventually be getting something but some kids aren’t that lucky. Let’s help feed the poor and the hungry in our society. To you my readers and fans, I wish you a Merry Christmas. Do have a joyful season and peaceful celebration. Do not forget that Christ is the reason for the season!
By Clem Aguiyi
Email: totalpolitics@ymail.com
