Family Exhibits Love and Friendship at Christmas

Loving family and friends who decided not to shy away from displaying their love, friendship and and unity during a cerebration of the recently concluded Christmas holiday. Pic by H.Maina/Ajabu

Story and pics by Harrison Maina, Ajabu Africa News, posted January 10, 2011

LOWELL, Mass.,Who said Santa can’t be black? Well, one Kenyan family in Lowell, Massachusetts found out the truth when mythical Santa Claus dished out gifts during the just concluded Christmas holiday.

 This time around, however, Santa was black, young and beautiful, as opposed to the usual imagery of a big white man with a protruding belly, white beard carrying a sack of goodies on his back.

In Africa, Santa Claus is known as Father Christmas, and appears in well to do city neighborhoods bringing gifts to children, to make them feel good during the celebration of the birth of Jesus.

But what if Santa, as is usually expected, does not come down your chimney on the night of Christmas Eve?

Do you have to go through the holiday with no gift, while you see everybody else at your work, in your neighborhood, and daycare or even your school bring home a wrapped gift, or do you have to buy yourself a gift and wrap it up, and address it to yourself?

As for one Kenyan family in Lowell, the determination to have as much fun and gifts as possible made them congregate for a family and friend reunion at one of their good friend’s apartment for a Christmas Eve party. As the festivities progressed, one of their young members slipped into a real Santa’s gear, dishing out gifts to everyone around to the delight of everyone.
 
The family reunion was reminiscent of the Kenyan tradition where during Christmas holiday, all family members would be expected to travel to their rural homes for the once a year must-attend family event, marked by sharing of favorite food and drinks as the families consolidated their togetherness.

Failure to join such a family celebrations, even if you had to travel from Mombasa to Nyamira overnight, was a great cause for distress to the rest of the family.

It was with this in mind that about 8 adults and two children from Lowell, MA and Nashua, NH decided to do away with the never ending hours at “work” and congregated at the Cross woods apartments off Middlesex street in Lowell to celebrate the 2010 Christmas holiday.

A boy lifts his hand while responding to another call of his name for another gift while other family memebrs wait anxiously for thir turn.

The family enjoyed delicious dishes specially made by the ladies of the family as they watched a nature DVD titled Over Alaska on a large flat screen TV while catching up on each other’s situations.

Chapattis, Mukimo, Nyama Choma, Pilao, Chicken Masala, Fruit salad, drinks, both soft and hard, depending on tastes and preferences, were all available in in large amounts to the delight of all those present at the party.

Amos, a new visitor who is only two weeks old in the country told Ajabu Africa, while tapping his belly after enjoying a sumptuous meal that, “This country is good”.

“Hey, don’t make such a quick conclusion. You have not seen the troubles of this country yet,” commented Joseph Ruo Muiruri, popularly known as Joe, adding that “America may look awesome to new comers but after they are here for a while, stresses of life start taking away that glamour”.

According to Joe, this is the reason to which their large close knit family has kept a tradition of meeting annually to celebrate the birth of Christ. It is their way of sticking together and reinforcing the unity that they strive to cultivate continuously.

“In addition to the delicious meals and physical gifts, people should acknowledge Christmas and exercise the gift of love that bond people together as one big family,” Joe added.

As the day wore on, Maggie Ndoho, a high school student at Pine Tree in Maine, pulled a Santa’s hat on her head and put on a red coat while reminding family members that it was time for the long awaited gifts.

Already wide eyes popped wider as one by one of names printed on over a dozen different size gift packages piled on a table in the middle of the living room were read by the “Black Santa”.

Starting with the 6-year old Elvis Ruo, followed by his younger sister, Alexis Ruo, to Grace Njogu, fondly referred to as “Auntie Murembo” and the oldest family member at 71, scooped not less that two or three gifts, making their 2010 Christmas holiday memorable with excitement and joy.

The elder grandmother, who has played a vital role in spreading the theme of love to these families, got most of the gifts. Ajabu Africa spotted her shuffling through a total of 4 different packages trying to see what was wrapped inside.

Grace Njogu, a grandmother of the family that held a Christmas party in Lowell seems to loose count of her gifts as she searches around for her other gifts sorrounding her while holding a new winter jacket on her right hand

Her face lit with joy as she hummed along to a rhythm of the gospel music, swinging back and forth while sitting on a chair strategically positioned in the room to see every angle of her young descendants.

“Well, you know why my name was called so many times?” she tasked the Ajabu Africa reporter upon an inquiry why she got more gifts than the others.

“Because, if you look very well, you will see that all these are my children, so I can expect many gifts from each one of them,” she said, beaming with pride.
 
Other family members were equally happy for the occasion to have taken place.

“I am very happy that we could meet in my house and have such a nice Christmas holiday. Putting smile on the faces of many is what charismas is all about,” said Florence Gitau who hosted the party.

“I mean a real smile not a fake one,” she quickly added.

“This was indeed a cool Christmas and I am looking forward to the next one,” said Jimmy Muiruri,a brother to Ruo and a prominent tax professional  in income Tax business from New Hampshire state and Lowell town in Massachusetts.
  
Joe’s wife, Liz Wakangu, who is a mother of two, said that she was very happy that her children were able to enjoy such a family get together which is so rare in America where families are usually apart because of work or other issues of life.

“God has given people so much, big cars, houses, big checks, and many more but they should not forget to exercise the theme of loving each other in their lives,” said Wakangu.

“People should strive to love, respect and show kindness to one another. This was something for my children to remember and look forward to every year,” she added.

Joe Ruo, left pulls out his gift as Amos, a new visitor from Kenya stretches out his hand for more, happily saying "this things did not happen to me back in Kenya".

A man tucks a gift under his arm as he ponders his next move on the festive Christmas Eve night.

Her husband, Joseph Muiruri agreed stating that sometimes it’s good for us Kenyans to do these things without shying away because they make life more interesting in this country.

As you would find in any party, there are some reserved people and a few of the mouthful ones.

Josephine Nganga, Joes’s cousin, who recently arrived to the US for the first time from Jamhuri (Swahili for the Republic, acronym for the republic of Kenya as referred to by many Kenyans in America), was one of the silent ones.

However she told Ajabu Africa that she was overwhelmed with joy of enjoying her first Christmas in America in such a unique manner. “I feel like I’m at home, in Kenya”.

To cap the night off, the host, Florence Gitau played some music and invited everyone to a little dance.

Maggie Ndoho, who acted as Santa, hands a gift to event host, Florence Gitau

She served them with refreshment ranging from juices and soda for the children and cocktails for the adults.

But as the party ended, all seemed contented at having enjoyed a splendid Christmas.

The get together exemplified how good friends can mean so much to people especially during the holidays.

While Liz and Florence’s families are not related by blood, their friendship makes them more than siblings, and that is what can happen to every family or group of friends out there, if only they try.

Ajabu Pictorial

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