From my childhood, Christmas was something held high up that I used to imagine that any idea to scrap it off the Calendar or a mere attempt to postpone it would be treated as something blasphemous in my view.

Not because we were celebrating the Birthday of J.C, yes Jesus Christ, I bet at the time I didn’t even know why we should celebrate his birth, despite the fact that I used to attend Sunday school.

But to me, Christmas was always about gifts, food and new stuff like shoes, clothes and having fun. I could not even imagine that people used to die or there were funerals on that day, even if they were there, I wouldn’t mind if I didn’t know about them.

Nothing and no one on earth with whatever moral authority had the right to interfere or limit the merry making. You might need to agree with me if you ever lived in Uganda. I mean in this country Christmas is everything and everything goes on Christmas.

It’s celebrated and held in high esteem that some housewives in villages will divorce their husbands if they don’t reserve some good amount of money to spend on Christmas. They would rather go and be somewhere else than staying around and watching neighbours indulge in all kinds of festivities.

This might sound funny and wacky but these things happen and I have witnessed them. Back in the days, we had a neighbour whose wife would raise all hell if the husband didn’t buy at least 10 Kilograms of meat and new clothes for their 8 children.

Annette, as she is called, would even prompt the neighbours intervention and sometimes local leaders to save the situation, or else she would pack her bags and return to her parents’ home.

Poor Charles, a struggling businessman at the time, had no option but to mobilise some funds from friends and do as she (the wife) wished. Then he would spend the better part of the following year servicing the loans he took the previous Christmas. This is actually based on a true story.

Christmas in Uganda begins in late October. That’s when corporate companies start throwing mega bashes for their workers, gifts start changing hands, Christmas jingles start playing on radios and streets get awash with Christmas goodies.

Supermarkets and malls announce discounts and shopping is at its peak. Christmas décor everywhere reminds you that the day is approaching.

Kigali? Don’t mention Christmas. My first Christmas in Kigali passed unnoticed, I couldn’t believe it! Though I used to hear that Christmas is no big deal in Kigali, I used to brush it off thinking that it was just cheap talk.

Well, experience is believing! A week to Christmas nobody seems to care, as I walk the streets, I take the assumption that ‘these guys are just busy’. Three days, still no sign that the day is approaching, its work as usual and everybody is in the ‘who cares?’ mood.

I feel like shouting ‘Hey Guys, Christmas is here’ but of course I can’t make a fool of myself. I patiently wait for the day to come by, hoping to be surprised and phew…the day passes and all I do is ask people if it’s true that this day is Christmas.

It just passes, not like any other day but may be what you would call a Sunday. People go to church, dress normally and eat normal stuff and why the Fuss?

As I rue the festivities I missed, am consoled that New Year’s Day is around the corner and that that’s when all hell breaks lose in Kigali. I am patiently waiting. But can it compensate the missed Christmas fun? I will live to tell the story. 

Ends