Christmas has always the best time of the year for me. As a child, I have very fond memories of the Christmas season. It always starts with the atmosphere and feelings of anticipation at the beginning of the month. Kiosks and stores along the roads start to play Christmas carols and really get you in the mood. Christmas meant new clothes and shoes (I always saved a new pair of underwear to wear on Christmas day). Not that anyone would have noticed, but it just made the day extra special to me.
Christmas was also the time we were sure to visit my hometown. It was always good to see relatives who came in from outside the country just for the Christmas. Bedtime at Christmas is usually in the wee hours of the next morning as there was always lots of things to do and gist about. I remember the long list of occasions, weddings and traditional 
ceremonies during the season, the many visits to relatives and friends, the happy screams of welcome to people you hadn’t seen all year through. I can still hear the drumbeats as the masquerades danced and paraded the village square and the singing of the little children as they danced and waited to be sprayed upon with money. The general atmosphere during the Christmas season back at home is usually one of love and community.
Christmas in North America can be a whole different ballgame. First of all, the cold winter doesn’t make things any better. oh! I know I wished so many times back in Nigeria that I’ld experience white Christmas. Well, now I have and it’s really not that much fun. Secondly, the whole Christmas idea has been so commercialized that it’s almost as if people don’t realize the true meaning of the celebration. Sure they make you feel the season all right, but it’s all geared towards selling one thing or the other. It’s much more about what material gifts you can give or receive. The kids write long wish lists for Santa and get heartbroken if ‘he’ doesn’t buy an item on their list (especially if they think they’ve been good the whole year through). In Nigeria, most of the time, all the kids want is a new outfit for Christmas day. I still have like a year or two before I get into that Santa craze since my tots are still too small to know who Santa is (thank God for that)!
Because of the nature of the society here, you have to go out of your way to make the Christmas season fun for you and your family; put up Christmas trees and lights (not the kind that the entire house is lit up like on gigantic 
firework, I particularly hate those kinds), listen to Christmas songs (there are channels that are usually dedicated to singing only carols) and more than anything else, get spiritually ready to receive the gift of Our Savior. You have to make concrete plans for the day. Maybe a visit to other relatives or friends, a family outing or a special family dinner at home. There has to be some kind of planning, unlike inNigeria where you have so many options that all you have to do is make your choice.Usually, people start travelling to be with family a day before Christmas. On the Christmas day itself, most malls and stores are closed, the weather is cold and freezing (even if there’s no snow) and there’s little or no activity outside. Everybody is indoors with their loved ones.
The truth is that if you are a Nigerian living abroad without any family and friends around that you can visit and spend time with during the holidays, then the Christmas can be a really depressing and lonely time.
