I SMELL CHRISTMAS

I smell Christmas. The smell is faint and almost hard to notice but i smell it. It'll be my first Christmas away from family and for that im sad. But ive got family here too so id make the most of it... Back in Nigeria, the jingles started in November, every advert came with a Christmas carol and ended with 'seasons Greetings!'. We got Christmas lights (fairy lights) every year because we never seemed to be able to save it for the next.Decorating started in December. I was always in charge of decorating the tree and I absolutely LOVED my job. Im my house, anything that looked really nice and could hang went on the tree, our tree was the only one i ever saw with artificial flowers. Mom and dad would come home with colourful balls and Christmas cards they got from friends, we'd string these (along with birthday cards for volume) across the ceiling and they looked ever so festive... Christmas food shopping was ALWAYS done on Christmas morning. Yhh we went shopping the day before or the week before but there was always some crucial thing we had to get that morning (usually Chicken). For as long as i can remember, i haven't taken a shower till about 3pm on Christmas day. No it's not deliberate, i was just always swamped with market, cooking and eating to shower early. Maybe this year id break that tradition, not being home and all.'Home alone' is our Christmas movie. We watch it every year and never ever get tired of it, i used to love to see my father laugh at Kevin's smart traps every year like he didn't see them in the last.. Mom would say the lines in-sync with the characters and id try to say too.. Last year i wasn't feeling 'christmasy' and i promised myself for the whole season i wouldn't say 'merry Christmas' to anyone and got away with it. All i said was 'same to you' when i had to. Do you know about the 'shame to you' prank? My friends let me in on it as a kid. We said 'shame to you' instead of 'same to you' and laughed our butts off when adults didn't notice. Id say it to someone this year for old time sake.. Hahaha. I don't want to make plans for this Christmas. Im hoping  my friends would make plans and include me. That way it's not in my power to mess it up. This year however, id say as many 'merry Christmas' s as i can! So MERRY CHRISTMAS to YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!