Twenty Five Days to Christmas

It is another beautiful Sunday morning in the city of Ibadan Oyo state. I have already started seeing Christmas trees decorated with Christmas lights and the Christmas jingles all in preparation for the Christmas holiday. One song which is common about the Christmas songs is “Joy to the world”. In my part of the world prior before an online mall introduced Black Friday; this season is always know to be expensive. I guess it’s caused by demand pull inflation. Everyone wants new clothes, wants to buy food to entertain guest etc and the price of commodities skyrockets. When the song “Joy to the world” start playing, many start growing anxious, thinking of how they would meet up for Xmas and what people would say if they refuse to bring something worthwhile for Christmas; so birth the increase of crime.

I would like to proffer three (3) tips to having a merry Christmas:

•  Good planning: If one really wants to have a great Christmas, it is not too early to start your Christmas vacation planning in September, which marks the beginning of the “Mber” month. The “Mber” month in my part of the world is coined because of the Christmas month which happens on “DeceMber 25Th”. The Mber months are months which ends with the four letters of the alphabet M,B,E,R. Although those who wants it spectacular could start from the beginning of the year but sometimes, over preparation for something could cause frustration if things aren’t going as planned. Especially if one plans a romantic get away with ones spouse or couple. As long as one is from my part of the world, expect disappointment or lateness. Something would always come up. So September is a good time to plan.  
  
  
  
  
  
• Take Advantage of any Christmas promotions to save cost and be disciplined to your savings. You can’t imagine I talking to a friend on Friday and I said, today is actually the last day of Black Friday won’t you take the opportunity to shop for Christmas and Boxing Day. You would be shocked what came out of her month. “I don’t believe in Black Friday, I’m a Christian”. The  color black has been so devalued that nothing good comes out of black. So only evil and which craft associate with the color black. I responded with a question, “aren’t you a black woman?” I don’t believe being black makes anybody a lesser Christian. I believe the God we serve would not judge us by the color of our skin. Every forth Thursday of the month in America is always a thanksgiving  holiday. After the holiday many call in sick for work so it became a norm that a day after thanksgiving which is Friday (November 29) people don’t show up for work. Then it was noticed that the traffic on the road and malls was high that day and sales of mall rose that it was coin Black Friday. Since then malls are beginning to open in midnight for shopping. I didn’t see anything demonic about Black Friday. A lady close to our conversation who took advantage of getting a smartphone phone that season was scared and ask please what is the origin of Black Friday. I immediately said it is the celebration for black people because I don’t want to associate black with evil. I said like Martin Luther king Jr’s day.
• Ensure you plan safe. As one plans, one should also be conscious that the only plans or bailout for some is crime. When you’re traveling by road which is the easiest way to lay ambush, please ensure you have some pocket change in your pocket, peradventure one encounter those criminals, one needs not to disappoint them with empty pocket. They are sometimes armed and would like you to corporate with them. If you know you could be a hero and save the day, good luck with that, but for safe planning, keep theirs. The safest and fastest I could think about is traveling by air. If you include a boot cruise or jet ski to your fun, make sure you stay within where help is at ones beck and call.