I love to remember a time when happiness felt real in everything around us the sounds of Christmas songs, the aroma of delicious meals, and the beauty in every Christmas color everywhere.
 

When it is a day or two before Christmas, my aunt would travel to our house to spend the holiday with us. She was a very good hairstylist. She would make my hair and my sister’s so beautifully and we wouldn’t let anyone see it until it's  Christmas Day. Immediately she was done, we would cover our hair with scarves and caps to keep it neat, fresh, and hidden from our friends.
 

My Mom and all my siblings would prepare meat and chin-chin, filling very large bowls. We would always sneak in to eat the dough and the fried ones too, sometimes even trying to grab from the hot pot of oil on fire and getting burnt. I would cry until Mama said sorry and gave me some more.
 

When all the work was done on Christmas Eve, it always felt like the longest night ever. Time moved so slowly as we waited with excitement, unable to sleep. We would cling to our old boxed TV and cassette player, watching Home Alone, Merlin, and other movie series we watched every Christmas. We stayed quiet, making little noises and whispers so we wouldn’t wake our sleeping parents.

On Christmas morning, we would wake up early, take our baths quickly, and rush to wear our new  Christmas clothes and shoes. We would remove the hair scarves from our heads, finally ready to show off our beauty and style to our friends, and argue about whose look was the finest.
 

Then Mom would prepare delicious rice and stew that smelled like Christmas itself. She would package it in stainless steel plates with generous pieces of meat, arrange them on a large tray, and send us to share with our neighbors, house after house, while they did the same for us.
 

Our cousins would come visiting for a few days. We would dress up in our Christmas Barbie gowns, high heels, and beaded braids, moving from one neighborhood to another, collecting cash gifts. Later, we would return home with a good amount of money. Mum would collect it, promising to save it for us, never to be refunded.
 

Maybe Christmas was more interesting as a child, when all we thought about was what to wear, what to eat and drink, and how to have fun. Growing older has changed many things, but one thing remains constant about Christmas, it is a season of Love. We change, times change but Christmas remains the same