WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE DECEMBER MEMORIES

Mine are steeped in playing football on the sandy streets of Okumagba avenue, skinning my knees and subjecting myself to Mama Aluaye’s fury as she presses the open sores with hot boiling water on a rag cut from our old curtains.

It’s going back to school for result collection day, knowing that a first position would set the tone for premium pampering and bragging rights around the house. Bragging rights that usually ended with eating the head of the chicken we would kill on christmas eve.

Its joining my sister Yvonne to predict when the “smell” of christmas officially hits our nostrils; bringing out our very old and awkwardly bent christmas tree for another crack at the seasonal decorations; and humming along to the never ending replay of the christmas lights.

It’s going for carol rehearsals, singing “I saw a maiden” and “Indulci Jubilo”, as the entire community congregates in the temple from their places of hibernation since January, crawling out of their proverbial cocoons like red foxes in winter