Focus on the family: A Family Christmas

Welcome again to focus on the family.  A section that deals with family issues in a humorous family. Hope you have been enjoying the season and you haven’t forgotten the reason! Last week we asked about your views on sparing the rod and had few but interesting answers.  Don’t forget to leave your comments.

The Family Christmas.

It’s Christmas period, a time when family should be together.  You believe in that strongly with all your heart.  Three years ago, you took your family to the village where you stayed with Grandma. Despite the fact that Grandma couldn’t see your lovely faces and that people you didn’t know kept coming by the minute to pay their respects and there was no light and the smell of firewood was always in your nostrils, you had a very enjoyable Christmas. Your uncle was also in the village and between the two of you; you decided to give the whole village a treat by planning a party.  You had made a generous budget you thought, so you were surprised when your uncle told you to add an extra ten thousand naira for drinks. You didn’t know palm wine had become so expensive.

The party held the day after Christmas. It started out badly because the cooks failed to show up and then your wife who was unprepared, had to be conscripted into cooking for nearly a hundred people. You were confident however of her skills in the kitchen. Cooks were few but it turned out there were servers aplenty. The party turned out to be a huge success though you ended up not tasting your wife’s savory rice, or drinking out of the palm wine because it appeared as if the village had multiplied three times over. For about a week, you could not look into your wife’s eyes for two reasons. Firstly, because in it was clearly written: ‘I told you so.’  Secondly, your eyes were still smarting from the firewood that was burnt in the village.

After that, you decided that going to the village to spend Christmas was too expensive. So you decided to invite your relatives over.  You invited your brother in law’s family and you also invited your sister’s children. The house was full but you were shocked when both sides came with travelers bags. They had decided to spend not just Christmas but they also wanted to see the New Year with you. You were horrified. Perhaps your message hadn’t been clear enough. And they had brought all their children. You didn’t know they were so many. The children ranged between two and twelve and in between taking them on frequent trips to the toilet and clearing up the messes they made on the living room floor and in fact everywhere else, you had never wished the holidays were over faster.  So, you debunked the idea of inviting family over. Your wife was too tired to tell you what a bad idea that was.

Last year, you decided that you would spend Christmas at your cousin’s house. You took your whole family all dressed in your best and drove the nearly 80km to your cousin’s house. You felt you had made the right decision this time. You and your family were treated like royalty. You had a lovely chat with your cousin and thoroughly enjoyed the pounded yam and egusi that was placed in front of you. You got home several hours later, only for you and your wife and your children to take turns at using the toilet. You personally went to the toilet about six times.

So this year, you have decided to change plans again. No outings. No traveling. You have decided to spend Christmas at home with your family, yes, and your nuclear family only.  You don’t care what grandma will say or what your uncles or aunts would say.  You would just have a Christmas tree, exchange presents and eat your rice in peace. You can’t wait to see how that will turn out.

P.S: Everyone agrees that Christmas should be spent with family and this includes loved ones.  In this part of the world, Christmas is usually spent with extended family whether in the village or in the city. A lot of families however have chosen instead to spend Christmas as a nuclear family whether at home or at places of recreation. What do you think?  How do you spend Christmas? Use the comment box to express yourself.