Thursday 20 December 2012

The reason for the season










Since I was a baby, Christmas has always meant to me taking yearly trips to my hometown;
getting together with family, those I have not seen in a long while and those I see often.
It has always meant buying rams for the season, and the men of the family killing them on Christmas morning; we the children taking trays of raw meat to different family houses and the King's palace and getting small tokens in return.
Attending the village church for close to three hours, donating money to the church and dancing to the altar in thanksgiving as our family name is called.

When I was much younger it meant throwing knockouts and having mini-wars with kids from other houses;
listening to bootleg tapes/CDs of Christmas carols and Awilo Logomba's/ Olumide's makossa songs.
Listening to the old women speak the native language as they gossip and 'speak' to the chickens and tortoises they probably kept as pets. Now most of them are gone.

Christmas has always also meant lots of food; jollof rice, fried rice, pounded yam, pepper soup and lots of drinks.
Sometimes it has also meant getting constipated or having diarrhoea.
It has more recently meant throwing big parties at our family house and crashing other parties; receiving visitors and catching up on all the stuff that have happened since we were away from each other. Listening to our daddies and mummies gisting and trying to get to know our cousins better. And sometimes, dancing like there's no tomorrow.


source











For me, every year Christmas is always celebrated the same way. Christmas time is synonymous with traveling to the village and meeting family from far and near. It's a very important tradition worth continuing.

But recently I've been thinking how I've never really sat down and given much thought to the real reason for the celebration. And I find that's it's so very easy to get carried away with all the eating, drinking and dancing that we forget that it's the birth of Jesus Christ that we celebrate on Christmas day. I'll be keeping that in mind this season even as we celebrate and hope not to get carried away by everything. I think we should even celebrate Christmas everyday in our hearts. But I still love the idea of dedicating one day to the celebration.


I stumbled upon this amazing video!!! It just helps to further pass the message about the Real reason for the season. Please watch and be blessed!!!.. I still get this warm feeling in my heart every time I watch it.





Later guys..

Merry Christmas in advance..
And don't forget to 'Keep Christ in Christmas'

:D

19 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Our 'growing-up Christmas' was very very similiar. I laffed when I got to the thanksgiving by family name part. Ah,so many memories.

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    2. Really??

      Ahh...so many memories!

      Merry Christmas in arrears and a Happy New year in advance

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  2. yeah i get u...:)
    merry christmas dearie

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    Replies
    1. :D

      Merry Christmas in arrears and a Happy New Year in advance!

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  3. For a minute I was nolstagic. Simply beautiful!


    lazioman.blogspot.com

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  4. I didn't get to wish you a Merry Christmas, but I can certainly wish you a Happy New Year. Have a fantastic 2013!

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    Replies
    1. Happy new year to you too!

      Thanks for visiting..:)

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  5. Modern Christmas celebrations have little or nothing to do with Jesus, the Feast of the Nativity, or the Incarnation. Consider some popular Christmas traditions: erecting and decorating a tree, hanging wreaths, sending cards, drinking eggnog, giving presents, hanging mistletoe...where is Christ in all of this? Christmas is more a commercial enterprise than a religious observance. It's like we as a society forgot the celebrant and pay more to the party clown(Father Christmas)

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    Replies
    1. Yes, very true..

      Thanks for stopping by..:)

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  6. It sounds so familiar and brought back childhood memories. With the partying and all, it is easy to forget the reason for the season. Lord have mercy!

    Happy New Year ay. Thanks for visiting and leaving comments on my blog.

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  7. Happy new year, hope you enjoyed the holiday.

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  8. Hope u had a beautiful christmas celebration?

    Here's to an amaZing 2013.

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Feel free to leave a comment. You can't tell how much that encourages me :)