by Chinazo Echezona-Johnson

Created on: February 16, 2009

Christmas at Grandpa's was memorable. My grandparents lived in a modest six bedrooms house with a gigantic stony porch in our village in Nigeria. The compound was massive with different exotic fruits growing in it. During the day, the air usually smells like jasmine and vanilla with a hint of mango and bananas. The Christmas celebration usually started three days before the actual 25th of December. My grandparents would be at the veranda (porch) to welcome all the aunts and uncles arriving with their children, servants and sometimes houseguests. For three days the house would be bustling with all sorts of activities.

My Grandma was usually in the outside kitchen with my aunts, older female cousins and the servants constantly laboring over open fire to produce mouth watering breakfasts, lunches and dinners for sometimes over forty people! The men were usually always eager to fetch things for the women; or while drinking the manya ngwo (homemade palm wine), sit around in the huge veranda discussing politics and their work with my grandfather and my older male cousins. The children were either roaming the compound to find snails, lizards; or climbing trees to pick mangos, icheku (berries), pears, bananas and udala (African apple) growing all over the compound.

However the best times were the nights. There were no lights or TV except for the faint kerosene lantern and the candles. The sound of creaking of the crickets and the twinkling of the fireflies would add to the magic of the nights. The night air smelled like cinnamon mixed with vanilla and barbecue. Under the moonlight and the stars, the children, and sometimes the adults, would sit around my grandfather in the large stony porch while he told us akuko iro (folk tales). We would be mesmerized and enchanted as his rich voice narrated stories about different things. Sometimes the younger children would fall asleep while the older children burrow deep under the wrappers of their mothers when he would tell the scary stories. The best part would be the harmonious singing that always accompanies the stories. About nine o'clock, after the night prayers, the children would be tucked in to sleep on the ute (rafter mats) scattered all over the floors. Even though the house was not too big, it was able to safely and cozily contain all forty plus people. The adults would find a place to sleep in the six bedroom house. Some would sleep on the beds or on the floors.

In the morning, the activities would start all over again.

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