In the spirit of the holidays, 20 ID Africans share what Christmas and the holidays mean to them in a year as tough as 2020.
Abiola Ashimi
Christmas and New Year to me is a time of celebration, when I spend time with my family and friends to celebrate, be happy and joyful together.
It’s a season I always look forward to because it brings the memory of spending time and jollification with loved ones. I get to see some of my childhood friends, family friends who either come to visit or we go to visit. It is perhaps the only time of the year when I get to do this.
Briggs Tonte
Christmas is that time of the year when everyone comes together to celebrate, go on vacation and eat plenty of food. It’s the undisputed holiday that almost everybody participates in, no matter how busy you are because you’re celebrating the birth of Christ. Then comes New Year celebrations which makes the season even better to reflect on the year with what you’ve accomplished and celebrate being alive to make another year and do better things that year.
Darafunmi Olanrewaju
Well, there’s no denying that for me at least, an era of Christmas celebration is over.
The childlike abandon, real or imagined, that used to accompany Christmas and the end of the year activities has now given way to a new reality and consequently a new way of spending the season.
It is still one of my favourite times of the year, even though over the past couple of years it has become boring and monotonous. But as I look ahead, I look to a new definition of Christmas. For myself and my family.
It is to become a time of new traditions and new meaning. I hope to be able to create a new Christmas for myself that I can carry with me as I go on.
The holidays have always been a time of great expectations. Expecting friends and family, expecting harmattan, expecting gifts. I think it’s an important season that should continue to be cherished.
Doyinsola Adegbehingbe
Christmas is like that quiet kid that everyone in class forgets about. Then one day, all of a sudden, the kid comes with gifts for everyone and we suddenly like them. But the gifts eventually finish, and we go back to forgetting about them. This is what Christmas and New Year holidays feel like to me.
Ehima Prince
Christmas brings the family together, I get to see everyone’s faces, the uncles and anties you’ve seen in a while and the rest of the family. I remember that day being the only day anybody can enter mom’s kitchen and do as they please without getting that “Is something wrong with you” face.
The cool part is I get to invite as much friends from school to come eat and have fun. And also all the gifts and money I get when the uncles are leaving.
Now, Christmas is…
Folayan Adejoke
The holidays have gotten more quiet in my house. Christmas used to be the only time my cousins from both sides of the family get to interact. My favourite part was listening to the men in the family discuss politics over crates of beer and bottles of wine. Now it is just another weekend.
New Year is spent in Ijebu, preparing for the New Year party which happens on the 2nd of January. Most of the new year day is spent sleeping as a result of the cross over service and the evening is filled with drinks and laughter.
Ifeoluwa Adeyemo
Christmas meant plenty of food and clothes.
While growing up, Christmas was my favourite part of the year because I got to eat so much Jollof rice, chicken and binge-watch my favourite cartoon
‘Ed, Edd, and Eddy’!
The best part was all the clothes my mum bought us for the estate and school Christmas parties.
Right now it just feels like every typical day, asides the fact that it’s spent with family and I do all the cooking and washing of dishes. Adulthood is a scam!
Iretomiwa Akintunde-Johnson
“Harmattan. Itchy Ankara clothes. Willoughbys and Akintundes. Too much jollof rice. Way too much chicken. Grandma’s house.” Those are the things that pop up in my mind when I think of Christmas.
My grandmother always made an event out of Christmas. Well, she made an event out of everything. But Christmas had the extra oomph. For those two days – December 25 and 26 – I have always eaten more than my belly could take. Lol! Loved every minute of it.
By December 25, the harmattan weather would have kicked in and the marble floors would be slippery. My siblings and I will turn the sitting room floor into our own skating rink. And ‘weeeeeee’! You could hear squeaks and squeals everywhere.
I think I want to go back to those times, No care in the world, no deadlines… Because by December 26, the family will gather around the TV to watch all the best movies, our mouths unceasing because the food won’t stop flowing. Ok, I want to go back!
Kingsley Ofunoye
Christmas for me is about giving people that warm joyful feeling inside and the best part about giving gifts is watching the people open the gifts that have been given to them.
The second best thing is getting to meet family. What a great joy it is to finally reunite with family. The jokes, the laughters and merriments… oh, priceless!
Kume Akpubi
The food is important, make no mistake. But nothing beats the opportunity to relive the years’ memories with friends and family.
You know that “How your 2020 was” slideshow from your popular apps? Well they stole it from us.
There’s something almost magical about Christmas. Somehow nothing else matters. Your job, pressing worries, other plans, they all take a back seat. Maybe it’s the food. Who knows…
Michael Orodare
Growing up in a face-me-I-face-you apartment made me see Christmas as a season of sharing. The door to our apartment was always open to friends and neighbours. After ‘blowing banger’ all night, jollof rice from neighbours would be waiting in our room before I left bed on Christmas day.
This has changed in the last decade. It’s every man for himself in the semi-middle class areas. Now I just want to stay indoors on Christmas Day. Those moments that make Christmas very special are gone but I still cherish the season a lot.
Mofijesusewa Samuel
Christmas and New Year was everything to me growing up. It meant my mom could finally slow down and spend the whole day with us. It meant that I got to see my cousins, uncles, aunts and grandparents. It meant new clothes, fun music, English breakfasts, too many pancakes, several servings of jollof rice and chicken, and free money from relatives.
This year though, Christmas and New year means sleep to me. I am escaping the hassles of cooking all day that came with turning 16 by hiding out in my apartment, and ordering food. The holidays mean a time to catch up on my series, novels, and sleep. And I can’t wait for them to come! By the way, Happy Holidays!
Njideka Akabogu
Christmas used to mean new clothes and road trips to Nnewi. Now it’s really just me sitting in front of my laptop, a glass of wine in hand and Jhene Aiko in the background. A lot like every other day, if you ask me.
Oladayo Olufowose
Christmas then was watching AIT end credits for the year with that beautiful soundtrack (It is time to celebrate, celebrate with family……) in the morning after getting my alarm from the christmas chicken, it was always a nice feeling. Saving from October just to spend it all on knockouts, well then it was money well spent. Also can’t forget how the new year comes with my uncles teaching me and my elder siblings how to drink. Lol, I’m not always invited but I usually find myself there.
Nowadays, Christmas is just a holiday to reminisce about my childhood experience and how it kept us happy together during the holiday.
Oludare Ogunbowale
Christmas is my favorite time of the year after Easter. When I was young we used to go to Amusement parks, play Arcade games (Mortal Kombat and the likes) and visit Santa Claus, whenever we didn’t go out; we were home cooking for the whole neighbourhood literally. Right now, things have piped down as the years rolled by, every man to himself. Most Christmas now I spend it with pals, watch movies, eat some great cuisine and just have a personal quiet time too.
New year for me actually starts from the last few weeks of the previous year, that’s where all the planning and praying starts for me. So I will just spend the time self-evaluating and doing things that will be productive and fruitful for my country, family and I.
Olusegun Giwa
Growing up, Christmas was that special time of the year I always looked forward to.
As a young child, it was the time of the year I was sure of getting gifts from uncles and aunts. The part of the festivity I mostly looked forward to is the Christmas day get-together with my family friends. There are a lot of fond memories from these get-togethers that have continued to linger in my memory, I just can’t forget the fun and the excitement that came with Christmas celebration when I was a kid. If there’s a way to travel back to the past, I’d definitely not hesitate to go back to those days.
Oluwadara Oluwatoye
When I was young, we used to have Christmas programmes in the church that were never really on the day of Christmas. The earliest memory I remember, is me puking into the gutter, sick as a wet dog.
Christmas has never really been a great time for me. I see people put up festive lights, some go as far setting up giant Christmas trees to get into the festive mood. For me, Christmas is a time to enjoy happiness in others. Seeing other people happy makes me really happy, so even though I don’t get presents, lights, or a tree, I am okay to see everyone else have that.
In our family, we don’t celebrate Christmas the way others do. We gather together, have a meal and just appreciate that we’re alive. We usher in the new year with a church service then we go home to sleep because these services are usually all-nighters. We also do some ‘spring-cleaning’ to the house because, hey, it needs a ‘new year, new me’ facelift too.
While others look towards the holidays as a rest period, for me, it has always just been another day in the life of a human.
Rita Okpalla
My nose is actually very functional and I am able to perceive seasons when they come. Growing up, the end of the year was my favourite cos unlike Easter that is preceded with mourning, Christmas is pure joy. Plus, schools resume a few days after January 1st. And it’s exciting to see all the food and people. But when I started getting involved in the cooking, I wanted to disown my gender. We’d spend hours in the kitchen and cos of all the nibbling, I won’t eat like the glutton that I planned to.
It’s one of the seasons that includes everyone with its own electricity of love. Lights, garlands, food, travelling, people, inner joy; that’s the sum of my Christmas.
New Year has always been projected as something like a hurdle; like we just crossed over. But for me, it means double the celebration; the opening year, and my sister’s birthday.
But other than the festivity, New Year for me feels like a good time for new beginnings, promises, plans, and hope. At the end of which I’ll be stuffed and intoxicated. All things considered now though, I don’t have to dread resumption after January 1st – yay.
Tolu Ajayi
Growing up as a child, Christmas was that time of the year I was sure to hear very rich hymnals about the yuletide season. Pure sounds of music filled the house very early in the morning. The participation in the Christmas decorations creates a sense of excitement while constantly checking food items to be consumed.
This is one time of the year that I’m sure of getting new clothes and shoes, nicknamed my toy gifts while claiming to be superman. There’s an unspoken permission to eat reasonably on Christmas day. I spend the time with family and friends who come visit.
Tobi Yinka
Christmas has always been fun-filled with my mom cooking different delicacies and having different relatives come over, it was like a family tradition. I looked forward to Christmas every year because it was a time to be thankful for the year and I also got to see distant relatives. It has not been the same though after my pops fell ill. Christmas is still a great time of the year for me but it’s not what it used to be. Christmas to me is a time to be grateful, I mean this period is one of the only few times I get to see my family really smile. It’s relaxing.