Let’s be honest: Christmas can be kind of hit and miss. For some people, it’s the best holiday ever, hands down. It’s the time of year that means family and food and a sense of magic. For others, it’s just another day. I talked to 5 women to find out what the holiday means to them, if their feelings around Christmas have changed as they’ve gotten older, and how they spend the day.
Koro, 29
Christmas is just another holiday I celebrate because I have to. I don’t have any connection to it, and that’s something that’s become more obvious as I’ve gotten older. I think that if a holiday gives people the chance to put in extra effort to spend time with family and loved ones, that’s totally cool. People are busy and the holidays are the perfect way to bring everyone together. But tbh, I don’t want to be sitting and spending time with the same set of people in my adult years. Gotta switch it up from time to time, pls dear.
Amarachi, 22
To me, Christmas has always been about spending time with family. I come from quite a large, geographically spread out family, so growing up, Christmas for us would consist of a week-long reunion in my father’s village in the East of Nigeria. Or alternatively, we’d spend it with my mother’s family at my grandparents’ farm in Wales. I’d describe my family as loosely religious (or maybe a religious pick n mix lol). Years ago, we’d all spend Christmas Eve in church, but as the years have gone by, that commitment has waned for some of us and now going to church is more of an individual choice.
Blossom, 24
As an Igbo person, Christmas almost never signifies bright trees hung with baubles or wrapped presents. Christmas immediately makes me think of my village. As in, I will much sooner tie Christmas to chickens trekking through dust or having to serve guests and relatives eba at my father’s house than to anything else (let’s not forget having to pretend to remember who the relatives are in the first place). It’s not bad though. After all, Christmas for me is still warm – just not warm in the hot chocolate sense, but warm like the sun of the East.
Icy, 19
All Christmas means to me is faaji lol. OK, for real, though…it used to mean being with family and all but tbh I only look forward to Christmas so I can have fun. The whole family dynamic kind of died a long time ago when my parents separated, so Christmas is now just another day to me (a great day if my dad lets me leave the house, lol). Plus, the thing with Christmas is that you can give people presents any time of the year so why is this particular day so special. I think the commercialization of the day just really puts me off.
Chidi, 23
Christmas for me is kind of complicated, emotionally. Because for me Christmas feels like forced socializing and pretending to like my extended family that I don’t even know that well and pretending to care about Jesus and of course, Lagos traffic…Christmas feels like flying back home and sweating and loud airports and not feeling Nigerian enough. But Christmas is also eating food I haven’t eaten in months and seeing friends from secondary school that I haven’t seen in years. When I was younger, it was fun, cause I got to see my cousins and there were so many of us, so the house felt all full and warm. And we’d put on Christmas shows, but as I’ve gotten older there’s just this distance I feel towards the holiday. I think more than anything, not being a Christian anymore kind of put a damper on things. So Christmas is just a lot, a lot of things…
