Yaaay… Merry Christmas y’all. I’m definitely having a merry Christmas… unlike the last two Christmas {es} I spent in school, for reasons I can’t quite remember now. Ah. Yeah I know, I’m not supposed to celebrate Christmas, but at least I’m permitted to eat, and ah well make merry with the food. Anyway…

I woke up 6 a.m. today, prayed subhi, some recitations, then mum and dad wanted Christmas text messages sent to their friends. Sitting in the parlor with the text message task, my brother stumbles in and the first thing from his mouth is “Has that mama brought food?”

Haha… “Olonje ya. Is that why you are awake at this time” I tease. He smiles, shrugs and went on to brush.

You see “that mama” is always the first person to bring the Christmas food tray to our house. It’s almost like clockwork. As early as 7:30a.m, a very big bowl of hot rice is already in our house. I swear one Christmas she was the one that woke us.

Right on cue there’s a knock on the door. “Mama said I should bring this food” comes a voice. Wow!

I say my thanks and give him his “Christmas Money”. Then my bro and I proceed on a mission to empty the plates whilst the household is still asleep. Ah. An hour or two later, everyone wakes up to empty plates and we became recipients of the evil eye from our siblings. Haha.

By 10a.m more plates filled with different varieties of food or different forms of one variety a.k.a. rice are in the house, and I’m on my second and half plate. Gosh I missed this last year. I think Christmas is the only time of the year when I eat more than I do on Sallah day. Not because, the food is not plenty during Sallah but because I don’t do the cooking, stressing and supplying. More like I’m being waited on.

By 1:30pm, I’m still sitting in the same spot since I woke up, watching hilarious movies, eating and drinking. Then I heard the call of prayer. OMG! I haven’t taken my bath nor brushed. Choi.

This is the Nigerian way, we celebrate, make merry and extend the merriment to our neighbors regardless of our religious or cultural differences. As I headed to the bathroom. I thought of how lucky my family was to have all this people extending all the love of the season, albeit with food and drinks, towards us despite our religious differences and in spite of the religious tension/crisis in the country. And I am glad that although we technically are not celebrating Christmas, we are not discarding the food in bins saying we can’t eat kuf’r {unbeliever} food. I remember a friend lamenting on how this BH crisis have changed things so much.

“Unbelievably, last year, I travelled home, and a house which was usually filled with food to the brim without putting on a stove was devoid of food. I remember when we celebrated all festivals, Sallah, Christmas it doesn’t matter. Our parents will buy us new attires for every occasion. We’ll eat, party regardless of our religion.”

Things are definitely not going to return to that ‘good’ time, as too many people have been caught in the cross fire and hurt. I hope though we all, Christians and Muslims, will learn to live together in peace and love, respecting one another’s religion without interference and judgment.

I’m a Muslim, I do not celebrate Christmas but I had a Merry Christmas. Hope you did too. Prosperous 2015 ahead to y’all.