It is the Christmas season, a time for family and togetherness. A time in which all come together, black or white, Christian or Buddhist, and spend quality time together, whether it be honoring Jesus’ birth or just having an enjoyable peace-filled holiday. During this time, it is customary worldwide to decorate a tree, buy gifts for loved ones, and rip them open at the break of dawn on Christmas morning. And most of all, everyone shows the Christmas spirit all throughout the month of December whether they are believers or not because it just seems right.

We had a little bit of a feud going on within my family a couple of Christmas seasons ago. We had a Christmas tree (yes, my parents too had been brainwashed by western rituals) and we usually put it together and adorned it in our main family room. One year though and for the past two years or so afterwards, our tree had been placed in our basement, a place regularly occupied by the younglings of the house. Previously, this small but defining change in our Africanadian Christmas traditions had not brought up any argument or objections. Or so we thought.

I personally believe that our tree should be placed in an area of the house where everyone can have an equal share of its grace, back in its old position in the family room. My mother on the other hand despises anything or one that causes a tiny bit of mess in the house she works so diligently to keep tidy and neat, the tree being one of them for its artificial pieces are prone to shedding. Thus, she decided that it would no longer see daylight in the family room and must forever call the cold cavern beneath, which we sometimes call the game room in our basement, as its sole residence.

After much thought (a good percentage of it while I am supposedly “meditating” while dressing up, showering, or answering nature’s call within the bounds of my sanitary yet comfortable preferred place of meditation) I too had made up my mind on this particular situation. I thought the tree should indeed have been in a place where all could see (even those who will only stop at the door, to notice that we are believers in the holiday spirit). What use is it to have a bright candle illuminate a solitary dark place in the depths of a grotto? My mother needs to understand that although her floor will indeed have some fake green leaves lying here and there, is it sometimes better to be unclean and happy and unclean rather than be opulent and depressed. She is a master cleaner after all, so I do not see the problem with living with the brief inconvenience sweeping up a couple of fake grass leaves now and then.

Of course, the tree remained in the basement that Christmas and every Christmas afterwards so our pleas were quite useless. In her defence though, she has plenty evergreen plants around the main level of our house that are very difficult to take care of, for they are real. She tells me “Your Christmas tree is in the basement, mine are all around the house. While yours is once a year, mine are all year round.” So I guess she does not need more plant responsibilities on her hands.

I believe that during Christmas, it is okay to make certain exceptions and do things you would not normally do, in the spirit of the season, whether it be overspending on various gifts for your family or watching back to back to back Christmas movies with your family night after night, getting your home a bit dirty inclusive (*cough*cough*mom*cough*cough) is fine in my opinion as long as you promise to clean it thoroughly with your tongue (no guarantees). The point I am trying to get at is that as long as you are with your loved ones, the Christmas holidays are bound to be spectacular and it is 100% okay to enjoy them.

Oh wait, my mother is home now. Maybe I will ask her about the tree situation for this year. All right, here goes nothing. Hello mom, how was your day? I was just wondering if we could possibly move the Christmas tree upstairs so we can properly bask in its glorious aura this season. Huh, no! C’mon, why not? Oh wait, hey hey hey, I was kidding! I didn’t really mean to talk back! Wait, what are you doing? NO, not the tree! Anything but the tree! Take my money, my videogames! Here, you can even have my sister! I beg of you, rethink your rash decision! Please wait, no, no, NO!!!

I take back what I previously said. If you are living in an Africanadian household, no, if you are living in MY Africanadian household, Christmas is not a time to be enjoyed. Rather, it is a time to be clean, shut your mouth, and sweep up broken ornaments.

Angelous