The Christmas of our childhood

I grew up in a neighbourhood where neighbours shared Christmas food amongst themselves.   My brothers and I knew the women who cooked the most delicious Christmas dishes, we always waited on their food trays with laughter. Emirate group raises alarm over sale of ancestral homes   Mu’azu Sambo and the burden of expectations The fun […]

I grew up in a neighbourhood where neighbours shared Christmas food amongst themselves.  

My brothers and I knew the women who cooked the most delicious Christmas dishes, we always waited on their food trays with laughter.

• Emirate group raises alarm over sale of ancestral homes  
• Mu’azu Sambo and the burden of expectations

The fun part was taking food to different families. We received crispy new notes (Owo Odun) for bringing Christmas rice. We had a mental list of the families who will give us Owo Odun. Those who were not generous mostly got their food trays much later in the day. Mom would have to beg us to deliver them.  

One Christmas morning, I decided to take the food tray to one of our generous neighbours alone. I made up my mind that I would not share the Owo Odun with any of my brothers, I had plans for the money already, so I took the food tray out of the house quietly.  

As expected, Mrs Ibikunle blessed me with a wad of crispy Naira notes. I walked out of her compound with happy gaits and a wide smile while I counted the crispy Naira notes. Odun yi o ye!  

Just as I stepped out of her gate, my two brothers appeared beside the fence screaming “that money is for all of us o”. They had tailed me to Mrs Ibukunle’s residence.  

Awon omo ogbon (Smart young boys)!  

Merry Christmas everyone. 

Titilope Gbadamosi-Adebayo writes from Ibadan, Oyo State