The Unforgettable Christmas: A Trip Back To 23rd - 25th December, 2006

Hello everyone out here, so we all know somehow that Christmas season could bring this euphoria of happiness and merriment, though there are so many Christmas seasons I've been enjoying, then there is one that stood out and till date, I am yet to experience that, I don't know if life happened or things just decided to change, so join me as I will be sharing with you all the Unforgettable Christmas.

So, we were on holiday from school, all my sibblings were back home for the Christmas celebration. For the very first time my mum bought clothes that sized all of us, I know my Nigerian brothers and sisters can testify that most of our parents will still get our measurements and at last end up buying oversized clothes for us.

Early 23rd morning, my dad asked us to prepare that we will be celebrating the Christmas in our village. We were all overjoyed because it's been ages we saw our grandma, so we all prepared and my dad took the 5 of us to the village, immediately he dropped us, we saw our cousins who came from Canada to spend the Christmas then and even our senior cousins who came from about two major cities.

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My uncles asked all of us, about 26 kids then to prepare so we can go to our village stream, oh God!, Happiness is an understatement of what I felt that day. We all set out that day, the harmattan was just too much, it was really coldy but the shocking thing was that our village stream was warm. I and my cousins with my sibblings swim for over two hours.

When we left the stream, we went back home to see that my grandma had already prepared **ekpang nkukwo**, this is our local delicacy, we all sat in a round table and ate it with our bare hands, like the bond was too much. We ate everything that was in the pot and even asked for more.

When we finished eating, my uncles with my dad took us to the village square around 2pm, there we saw a lot of cultural dance from different cultural groups, that was the very first time I saw masquerade physically, I think that's just Nigeria kind of father Christmas.

When we left there, we went altogether to the local market and my mum and aunts choosed three goats plus 4 chickens then my uncles and my dad contributed money and paid for it. Then we headed back home. When we arrived home, one goat was slaughtered and pepper soup rice was prepared and all of ate and then bath preparing for evening.

That night, the moonlight was very clear and my grandma gathered all of us and was telling our moonlight tales, the stories were very interesting and some were scary as well but I enjoyed all.

The next day, as early as possible, we wokeup and the harmattan was getting serious, so we stepped out and saw our uncles and parents drinking outside, since I was a kid then, we were asked not to drink any Alcoholic drink, so we all were given soft drinks which we used to eat rice with pepper soup made from the second goat that was slaughtered that morning.

Then, we went ahead to play in the family compound's court and the same routine just like 23rd was repeated. After all these, the long awaited 25th december came and the really merriment happened, our uncles from Canada gave us gifts they brought back home. That morning, we went to church, on cominf back, my uncle bought one more goat and added to the one we had at home.

When we got back home, we searched for small firewood to roast one goat while the other one was used to prepare stew and pepper soup with chicken. When everything was set and done, we all had prayers together and projector was brought so the history of **Jesus** will be displayed as we will be eating as well.

Food were shared to our neighbors as well, they also gave us theirs. After eating, we were allowed to go out and play, I was just praying the day should not end, I love everything that happened that day and wished life will bring all of us back together again so we spend yet another Christmas together.