What I want for Christmas

What I want for Christmas...

I would have chosen a nice pair of blue shoes, or maybe a nice blue gown or better still, a nice white shirt on a plain smart skirt... #shrugs nice is nice.

I would have chosen to be in the UK or Canada or kpatakpata our nearby Cotonou or even travel to my village sef for the festive celebration. Out of the country is still out of the country, my village inclusive. (Yes, anywhere that takes you outta Lagos is outta the country. Lagos is a country on it's own.)

I would have chosen to have this very nice job, in one conducive looking environment, where AC wee just be blowing my life, with one kain better money and one small car laidat that I'll be using to cruise and snap pishure upandan. Who doesn't like better thing, I do biko.

I would have chosen, chosen to be somewhere that isn't here, but I believe being alive is the greatest gift a human can be grateful for, so yay I'm happy to be ALIVE. #swingshands
Its not like we don't want all these things, but life just chooses to put you in a place where your hands can't reach.

But now, I don't think there's any gift greater than having peace of mind, and being happy and making others happy.

I remember sometime last year, there was this beggar who was lame but sweeps the bridge and people drop tokens for him. Weeks into weeks I decided to do something, I gave him a #500 note and walked away, man crawled and chased after me on his kneels,( his kneels? I think he was swimming on his belly), and kept calling and calling 'Aunty Aunty!' I turned only to see that the lame man was half way chasing, I could feel tears swelling in my eyes, I smiled and waved and didn't wait for him to catch up with me. He eventually stopped chasing.

I got to work that day and all I did was sob each time I remembered the crawling or rather swimming lame man. There's joy when you give a beggar what he doesn't expect. You should try it, it leaves an everlasting smile on your face each time you remember, like I'm smiling now.

 So I tried with a couple of others- an old woman in church selling stationeries under the scorching sun, an elderly man who finished evangelizing and was obviously trekking home then very recently, three secondary school girls who had told me stories about losing their monies amd couldn't go home. The feeling was overwhelming. I didn't have much, but then I realized sometimes, making others happy, there you find your own happiness.

This Christmas, I don't know if the real Santa is coming to Nigeria, cos me ayam tayad of our black Santa's that only wait for kids to come to them before they give out gifts. So please, be your own Santa, give out things you can afford to lose, doesn't matter how small, make a beggar happy, put a smile on that widows face, that child that has no shoes, buy for him/her, offer to pay someone's fare if you can.

The little things we count as nothing is GOLD to someone else.

Don't wait to always receive, you too should give out. If we all are expecting gifts, then who will give you?

So here's what I want for Christmas, peace of mind and a smile that never leaves my lips.

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