THE HAMATAN THAT STOLE CHRISTMAS

Today has been the first day of my last week at Radio Justice. I had a plan of just coming in and getting a lot of the documents that I have to finish completed. I got a few documents finished and I feel good about it.

At the same time, I really want to get much more finished by the end of the day, as I am sitting before is the reality of the days passing rapidly. In one way, I am grateful for this transition as it is giving me perspective on the grand exit. What I mean is that in March, when leaving Ghana, I can feel that it will be a time of so many conflicting, almost contradictory, feelings. I know that I will want to feel like I have done everything that I was supposed to do. If I was leaving Ghana right now, wow, I would have a lot to do! Leaving Tamale is already enough.

Though, today the idea and my feeling about leaving is not so bad…not that I want to go.

Let me put like this. Today is December 11^th. This afternoon, just after taking my lunch the movie Home Alone 2 was on TV. As is the case with the first Home Alone, it is set over the Christmas season. It is also a movie that is full of sentimental moments and life lessons articulated by Kevin who is wise beyond his years (realistic or not).

I remember watching the first version of this movie at the Scarborough Town Centre (before the theatre was transformed to The Gap). I went to watch it with my family right before Christmas; we loved the movie, and noted that Dylan was quite similar to Macauley Caulkin.

Watching it, with the Christmas theme, made me realize that it’s December 11^th…14 days until Christmas. See, right now it is really hot outside. And it is really sunny. It is watermelon season, we are just passing papaya season, and we are approaching mango season. The air is dry and the ground is dusty.

While there is the odd Christmas commercial with a cheesy Ghanaian Santa dancing for a so-so chain of department stores, but it is just that…cheesy. Really though, I don’t mind the ads at all though, I love the fresh fruit and I am enjoying my extended summer (I had never skipped the winter season before).

In Home Alone 2, Kevin’s family was in Miami, while he ended up alone in New York City. When I saw the rest of his family in a Florida hotel room watching, “It’s A Wonderful Life” en Espanol, I wondered why? Why would you want to be in the tropics at Christmas? It’s supposed to be cold. There is supposed to be snow. The days are supposed to be short, so that the Christmas lights actually add brightness and warmth that you can feel. None of the above are true of Tamale…the odd store playing Christmas carols has a really different feel that what I am used to.

I should add that I will be spending Christmas in Accra, and there is a notable difference. Christmas is much bigger in Accra, and everything from the churches, the decorations, the feeling amongst people, and even in the streets and the stores, I am sure the season will feel much more festive.

With that said, it is more than the festivities that I miss, it’s the family and friends that I miss. As busy as my Mother can be, she always finds time to decorate our house from the bathrooms to the bedrooms and every room in between. She pulls out decorations she has had, some since I was a child and some since she was a child. There are so many stories and memories that we revisit putting them up.

Seeing my cousins, Aunts and Uncles, my brother, my Grandmother – the whole family – doing the whole Christmas celebration is a regular part of the passing of a year. Now that I am an ocean away, I see that even more. Throughout my time being here, I am really finding a deep appreciation of so many aspects of my life. Not to say that I didn’t appreciate it before, but I appreciate it more.

While I know I am supposed to be here, I do feel sentimental. I know that my time in Accra over the holidays will be great. There are so many friends to visit, and the Ackerson’s are definitely family to me. It will be great to be with them. This very day, I have been making arrangements to bring yams and smoked guinea fowl down for the holiday season…I wonder how that combination will taste with some cranberry sauce?

All that said, at this time there are many people that I am feeling deeply in my heart. Everybody’s house that I usually come by over the holidays to eat…of course Mom (and the rest of the family) cooking at my house, Grandma’s house, the Bramwell’s (lollipop), the Ezemenari’s (Chin!!!), Weir-Howell residence (G!!!!), the Byam’s (Kembino!!), the Samuels (you know I would be there!!!), the Balamos family (it’s a tradition), Auntie Gloria and Auntie Janet, Auntie Norma, the Ishmael’s (can I have a moment of silence for the plate that I would of ate), the Thompson’s (you told me to bring the Tupperware!), the Isaac’s (even if Frank isn’t home), the Clarke’s (gotta get that breadfruit)…all of these houses are the guaranteed spots. Of course, there are other unexpected invitations, but these are the regulars.

So there I sat, in my office in West Africa, feeling the weather system caused by the grand Sahara desert, watching Home Alone 2, feeling quite emotional…thinking of all that is special to me at this time of year. I know many might say that I should be grateful at this time of year to be out of the cold, but Christmas in Toronto is not cold, no matter what the temperature is outside; even in the most bitter winter weather seems to just intensify the love inside.

To my family, and to my friends (who really are family to me), I deeply miss you all. I am thankful for the understanding that I am doing what I need to do, and I am where I am supposed to be, but I miss you all and would love to be there with you…especially during Christmas.