Christmas Past and Present.
The Past:
December was usually an exciting period for me as a little boy. I always looked forward to Christmas day, mostly because it was the day I'd get to wear my new clothes. These were usually native wears that I'd given to the tailor about a month prior.
The earliest I'd ever gotten my clothes was December 22nd, I think I was nine then. But the latest... well, let's just say I've gotten my Christmas clothes in the first week of January!
My dad would buy the material in November, and my brother and I would take it to the tailor, Boda. He'd take our measurements and ask us to come back a week later. But we knew that meant another week, and another, until usually the day before Christmas, we'd sit with him from morning till night till he finished sewing our clothes.
We'd take them home, wash off any stains (sometimes the sewing machine would misbehave and leave oil stains), iron them, and... Christmas morning, we'd wear them!
But it wasn't just the clothes, it was also the food. Chicken was a treat. See, my mum only kept a few chickens for sale and we only got to eat chicken during the year if one was critically ill and couldn't be sold. And so we'd sometimes pray for a chicken to fall ill so we could eat it!
Christmas food? Image mine.
Christmas meant overfeeding, new clothes, and freedom to move around and go wherever we wanted. I was always excited as a boy when Christmas approached.
The Present:
Before I talk about the present, there's a point in my childhood (I think I was around 12 or 13) when my dad stopped buying Christmas clothes for me and my brother. Only my younger sisters got new clothes then. But Christmas didn't stop being exciting for me;I still looked forward to the food.
Even though I had to wear old clothes, I'd go visit friends... until I realized I was the only one going and they weren't coming. Or maybe I stopped because I was shy, or maybe it was because my brother and I didn't hang out as much anymore. So I'd just stay home, play with our Muslim neighbor Sadiq, or hang out with others in the neighbourhood.
Now, as an adult, the excitement of Christmas is different. I'm excited because we're commemorating the birth of salvation; the birth of Jesus Christ. I love all the carols, but I've only attended a few between 2020 and now. I'm content watching clips online.
How it feels now.
Maybe the Grinch stole my excitement 😅. Make no mistake, I'm still excited, but not like before. No new clothes for me this year, but I'll definitely eat a lot of food on Christmas day 😋. As for visiting friends... absolutely not! I'll sit here, scroll through my phone, watch others do exciting things, and be happy for them 🤣.
I guess that's my excitement now. I'm a bit more excited than I was four years ago, though. Back then, I worked on Christmas days (between 2019 and 2021) with no days off up till January 5th or thereabouts. But now I've had some time off. That's about it, really.
Concluding, after a bit of retrospection and introspection, I've realized that if I want to feel that childhood excitement again, I have the power to create it. It's up to me to make it happen. The same goes for you; if you're not feeling excited about Christmas, think about what made you excited as a kid. Go ahead and do it!