A Christmas Feast

The day started just like any other Christmas day, with Nyokabi next to her grandmother counting the minutes she would get out of bed and join her aunties in preparation for the Christmas feast. She had woken up quite early that morning. It was still dark outside, but she heard the chirping of birds, so she knew it would not take long before the sun came out. She awoke to the sound of her grandmother praying. She could not make out most of the words because she did not understand her local dialect and also because her grandmother was whispering. But she had had such encounters before, and she was quite sure her grandmother, to escape the loneliness of the pains in her body and the lack of sleep, sort after something bigger than herself. Her anticipation for the day would not allow her to go back to bed, so she lay there listening until it was time to get up.

Unlike other homes that started the day with people attending church services, hers began with her uncles and their male friends slaughtering an animal, a goat or sheep, and ended with drunk relatives. She always liked this time of the year because it was the only time her relatives met, and what better time than Christmas? She also liked to listen to her aunts and their children talk about how their year had been. This was her paternal grandparents home, and she, in the long list of cousins was somewhere between the elder ones who were in universities and the younger ones, whom she felt very qualified to give advice. She always admired the elder ones because they had a way of carrying themselves that seemed almost foreign to her. They woke up right after the sun hit midday and they made themselves scarce, only to be seen in the evening when the food was ready and the drinks were taken out of their hiding spots. Still Nyokabi enjoyed their company, especially when they split themselves into a group to share the liquor their parents had brought.

The morning light came slowly, and when she was sure that her mother and aunts were up and about, she tiptoed her way into the living room where a mattress was laid for her cousins, careful not to wake them. She made her way to the toilet to empty her bladder, then made her way to the kitchen, a room outside the main house, where her aunts were. Breakfast had already been prepared, and she found herself a seat. She liked to seat amongst them to hear what they said and run errands incase they needed this done.

“Find yourself a cup, and come have some tea” her aunt Wanjiru said. “These children, you have to tell them everything,” she added speaking to no one in particular. Nyokabi got up, rushed to the main house, still on tip toe, found some cups in the cupboard, took one and went back to the kitchen. She poured herself some tea and sat back at the position she had been. “Every day is the same with this neighbours. Every morning they wake up to a new argument,” aunt Wanjiru said

“What is it this time?” her aunt Wakesho asked.

“I never can tell. It usually starts...