Christmas Memories
A True Story
The 1993 Christmas was the first one I recollect celebrating in my life. I was a boy of six years at the time, young but full of life. My family members woke up early on that Christmas Day: some to carry out chores at home; others, to fetch water from a nearby waterhole since we didn't have access to piped water here at home back then. Because I was too young to be of much help, I can't recall which duties I was assigned. All I remember was us receiving later in the day visitors with whom we feasted on food. I played boyish games with the children who came with the visitors.
As I continued celebrating more Christmas holidays in the '90s, I always felt I never had another Christmas that was as lively as the 1993 one. I even mentioned that to my siblings on one Christmas Day in the '90s as we cooked chapatis in our sooty kitchen. And I don't really know what made the 1993 Christmas lively for me. Maybe it was because the much I did that day was eat and play games.
Although I never had another Christmas Day in the '90s that was as lively as the 1993 one, I nonetheless enjoyed some of the Christmas festivities I had as a boy, especially the 1996 one. I was in my ancestral land in Murang'a, Kenya, on that 1996 Christmas Day during which I feasted on sumptuous dishes together with my cousins, aunties, uncles and grandparents. And later in the day when I visited a nearby town called Gikoe, I was taken aback to see it full of people. It was like the whole world had assembled in the town. I guess most of the people in the town that day were city-dwellers who had come to Gikoe to reunite with their families.
From 1997 onwards in my childhood years, the best part of Christmas festivities for me was watching a play in our church that was staged by youths on the eve of Christmas Day. The youths constructed a manger in the church and decorated it with Christmas lights that mesmerized my eyes. And I found it entertaining to watch them act on how Mary was betrothed to Joseph when she was told by an angel that she would conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit a child called Jesus, how Joseph was mad at Mary when he found out she was pregnant and how King Herod was so jealous of Jesus' birth that he decreed all male babies be murdered. They were very creative and amusing, those youths!
While the 1993 Christmas was the liveliest I ever had in my childhood years, the 2017 one has been the best I have had in my adulthood years - that is, since I turned eighteen about a decade and a half ago. I remember with nostalgia how I downloaded and listened to Christmas carols sang by children in the days before the 2017 December holiday season. And when Christmas Day dawned, I found myself feeling creative and energized. I began the day by penning a story that I enjoyed posting on this blog. When later in the day my siblings visited us with their families, I was elated when some of them commented that I had lost weight; elated because I had worked hard in the previous three months to regain my youthful swagger.
So much did I enjoy the 2017 Christmas Day that I was unable to sleep on the night of that day. I just stayed awake the whole night thinking refreshing thoughts that made me lose track of time. It really was an exciting Christmas. To this day whenever I listen to the Christmas carols sung by children that I have told you about, I find myself remembering the 2017 Christmas Day. I am working towards having more such wonderful days in the future. Merry Christmas!
****************************
RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story on Christmas memories, you might also enjoy another one I wrote three years ago on "The Thuita Doctrine". Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sharing is Caring
Like this story? Then share it on:
