THE GREATEST CHRISTMAS GIFT

in Articles By Mccu Literature on 19 Dec 2024

It is again that time of the year when we sing those hymns, decorate our houses in certain colours and for some take a trip back home. It's Christmas time.

For me it's a bittersweet memory of how I recall this festivity back then when I think it qualified for that name. Growing up, it was the most awaited day when the not so common things would happen. It was not an everyday occurrence that my mum would do shopping in bulk, buy new clothes for the soccer team plus substitute family we are and prepare those delicacies that were in their own rights a reserve for the day. Even before the pomp and colour, in the run up months to the day, my siblings and I (we still valued family time then) would have saved enough coins to buy balloons, chocolates, dolls, sweets, yes and all these would go down on that day. It was a time we had the right to ask for new clothes and the only time we were guaranteed of a positive response. Yes, and on the day, pocket money was served to each one of us in order of seniority and we were allowed to go take a walk in the nearby market to show off our new clothes and eat what we got. That is why it is nostalgic.

The whole experience is worlds away from the present day.  I continue to reminiscence in those memories. Gone are the days when we would count the days remaining to 25th. Gone are the days when fragrant basmati rice, infused with aromatic spices, topped with tender, flavourful chicken was a reserve for the day. In present times, it is difficult to simply set Christmas apart from the normal days. It is just a date, like any other date. It comes and it goes. The whole experience is dreamy. Clustered somewhere in the back of my memory, blurry, misty, and simply a silhouette.

Going back to those memories is unfathomable.Looking back at the wistful childhood memories of the feast, I cannot help but wonder at the future. Will I one day play the role that my mum played back then in my life? My biggest fear is that by that time the feast may have lost significance. Research reports over the years have indicated that there has been a constant shift on the view of the significance of the feast over the years (Pew Research Centre 2017). The religious connotations attached to it are slowly being shown the door and new traditions around it are finding their way in. Perhaps, then there would be no new clothes to buy, basmati rice would be too common, shopping would be an everyday occurrence… Maybe all I can do now is be a Santa Claus. You can too.

Christmas is a special time for us to practice the Santa Claus spirit of gifting and being there for our kith and kin- the greatest gift we can give is our time.

~Anonymous 

In the words of Burl Ives “Have a holly jolly Christmas”