Things I look forward to at Christmas

The Christmas season is a time of year when we're all reminded of the true meaning of giving. It's not just about giving money or presents, it's about giving your time, energy, and love to those around you. The Christmas spirit is all about sharing joy with others, and while some people like to give gifts, others prefer to give their time or their attention.

I don't know if it's just me but a lot of things have changed about Christmas these days; it's not as it used to be in the past. I can remember how things used to be a lot more lively back in the day starting from September, that's when you start hearing lots of fireworks, and Christmas carols, and there are lots of Christmas decorations around the markets but Christmas is just a few days away and I can barely see any decorations when I pass through markets, and the sound fireworks are very rare.

All these are part of the reasons why I no longer enjoy Christmas as I used to when I was a child. On Christmas day, I mostly just eat and drink, and that's the end of it. I don't even feel like it's Christmas even when I go out of my corridor and look at my neighborhood; "it feels just like a regular Sunday", I say to myself (even when it isn't). But for the sake of this article, I will talk about the one thing I looked forward to during Christmas back in the day.

Family get-together

In the past, my family usually travel to the countryside every Christmas to meet up with the rest of the extended family at my grandmother's house. It's a very exciting event because all my uncles, aunties and cousins will be present and aside from the quality time we share, there's also a lot of food and drinks.

I mostly don't value those get-togethers back then because I was still a kid and I usually just play around with my cousins but thinking about it these days has made me realize I truly missed those moments; they are my fondest Christmas memories. My family travels before Christmas day (mostly on the 20th) and stays till after the new year celebrations while a lot of other members of the extended family arrive either a day before Christmas or on Christmas day itself.

On Christmas day, we all go to church (at least most of us) and when we get back, the cooking starts. Everyone usually stays around the kitchen area even when they aren't actively involved in the kitchen. The women are actively involved in the cooking, the men sit around with bottles of drink while the children are playing around unless they are needed for errands like retrieving cooking items from the main building.

But what about now? Well, we don't frequently travel to visit my grandmother anymore during Christmas and I think the last time we did that was 3 years ago. Every other member of the extended family has also reduced their frequency of traveling to the extent that even when we travel, we might meet only two or three of the other members of the family.

These days, there isn't much to look forward to except for the occasional eating and drinking which I will honestly say has become boring over the years. I usually don't do any other thing that day except going to church and maybe visit one of my aunts who lives nearby. This year's Christmas falls on a Sunday and it will basically look like a regular Sunday to me because the Christmas spirit around my country has drastically reduced these days.

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