Along with my three sisters I would wait anxiously to see yet another fluffy white dress my dad had bought me. I loved the white and the fluff plus a few flowers here and there every now and then.

As I grew older (in my teen years) I dreaded wearing the fluffy dress but yet excited to receive it. Our daddy was always excited and full of joy as he passed all of us 8 siblings our brand new Christmas outfits. To this day I can still see his face full of content just because his children were happy.

We lived in the city but traveled to the village to be with our extended family every Christmas. Our village was one of those places in this world that seemed pure and untouched by pollution. The air was clean, the plants/crops were vibrant, food was still being harvested with hands not machines, if you cared to listen, could hear the beautiful songs of the birds in the sky, if it happened to rain, there was purity in the smell of the dust!…..it was raw and it was beautiful.

I always anticipated seeing my grandma once again. Her smell had an assurance of Home! That place was home, my grandma made that place home. Sometimes I would curl up in grandma’s bed….and she let me. I am a horrible sleeper, I roll like a turkey being marinated for roasting…lol and my sweet grandma would let me share her bed for as long as I wished to. Grandma passed on two years ago and I hadn’t seen her for many years…. and this year around this time I just miss her, I miss her smell, I miss her touch, I miss her cooking….I miss those days she made her place home.

I grew up in Uganda and back then, things were different. A bottle of soda was a treat for Christmas and I always looked forward to it.

I know my daddy must have talked about the true reason for Christmas (which is the birth of Christ our Lord and Savior), but as a little girl, Christmas was about all the excitement of the white fluffy dress, yummy food, soda and seeing grandma. That was that little girl who would grow up to continue seeking to understand and live in the truth about Christmas even with new and different family traditions.