Christmas morning, waking up full of energy, spirits high, everyone full of vibes, we quickly have our bathe, get dressed in our new clothes we bought specially for Christmas and head on to church.
Joy in the air after the service. We take a pictures and head back home, from there we regroup and take a family trip somewhere. Some years it's an amusement park, some years it's a beach, some years it's to a resort, some years it's to a cinema house. On times when we got home early we always cook a small feast. It was always fun experience.
But this year was completely different. Right from the off, for some reason we didn't go to church, everyone slept in. No one had their Christmas clothes (got mine a day after Christmas), there was no Christmas outing planned, no usual feast, we just added some Guinea fowl to the rice and stew we were already going to make on a regular day and that was it. That was it. The rest of the day was just like a regular weekend (it was Wednesday, but still).
I started to ask myself what exactly had changed? Is the magic of Christmas gone? Or has it changed? At first I was thinking it's probably economical or something. But when I looked back on it, I don't think any of the things we normally do then are things we can't afford to do at the moment. So I ruled that out.
But one thing I can't rule out is that we've aged. While I've been aging one year at a time (like everyone else), I have noticed that the Christmas feeling has felt less and less powerful over time. Back then worries were few, just wonder, anticipation of gifts, Christmas clothes and the likes, the outing, it was all we could think about.
But now there's a lot more responsibilities, and even when we do things like cooking, buying clothes we start to factor in cost, time, and so on. Even if we can afford it, we still care. Then we didn't really worry about anything.
This Christmas was the first one that really showed how much the vibes around Christmas has changed over the years (atleast for me). But it also taught me something. It taught me that any day can be whatever we want it to be. If I want to make tomorrow my own Christmas, I can go ahead and do it.
For me Christmas has taken a whole new meaning. Christmas is now the time I get to meet members of my extended family I didn't have the chance to catch with all year (that's what I've been up to these past few days). It's been fun in its own way. A different kind of refreshing feeling in it's own way.
Cover image created using meta Ai
