Of food, fun and relatives | What Christmas means to me
Christmas for me has always been about family, pretty much like for everyone else. My holiday movements are usually governed by where the largest concentration of family weddings is over December and January. For the last few years that was Colombo (of course) but this year it was Melbourne, so off to Melbourne I go! Either way my Christmas is spent with family. Living in LA now Christmas is pretty much the only time I get to see everyone in one go!
My earliest memories of Christmas involve a lot of food and family but there’s this funny story that stands out from the rest. When we were kids, my uncle had a unique way of handling things when my sister and I were about to do something that would get us into trouble. Instead of scolding us, he would simply point at us and hum the melody to ‘Santa Claus Is Coming to Town’. “‘You better watch out, you better not cry”… My sister and I would instantly stop whatever we were about to do – and switch to our best behaviour. What’s best is that my uncle still does this today… in fact he does it even when it’s not Christmas!
But my all-time favourite was something we did for my mum a few years ago. It was Christmas Eve and I had been away for some time so I thought I’d give Amma a fright by turning up when she least expected me. I landed in Melbourne, went home and crawled straight into a big cardboard box (my best friend Sanushka had snuck it in a week ago saying it was a present for me and nobody suspected a thing). Masterminding the plan from outside and making sure I could breathe in a ridiculous cardboard box was my dad, grandma, uncle and of course, Sanushka.
So Amma comes home, notices that the box had moved and goes into Amma Panic Mode! She was so scared to open it (pretty sure I heard ‘I think Jehan’s in there’ at some point- you can never out smart Amma) and when I eventually jumped out of the box you should’ve heard the shrieks! Actually, you can-it’s on my YouTube channel – it’s one of my personal favourites up there (bit.ly/jehanrXMAS).
My favourite bit of the holiday is the 25th morning, when we have a gift unwrapping session followed by a big Christmas breakfast involving kiribath and kokis. We call this the ‘Opening Ceremony’. Mayhem generally follows! Christmas cake and pudding rule the family movements during the month. Don’t tell anyone, but I like to secretly critique the Christmas cakes of the various aunties I visit over the festive season.
I base my assessment on fruit ratio, marzipan icing evenness and wrapping paper, of course (in our family it’s the height of scandal to wrap your cake in less-than-appropriate wrapping paper). And by the way, someone needs to sit down and explain to me the difference between Christmas cake and Wedding cake. It’s one of the great mysteries of the universe-am I the only one who thinks this? I haven’t really had a Christmas in the States yet, but one thing I did notice was that THE holiday over there is Thanksgiving. It’s not a religious holiday, so everyone really gets into the spirit of things- its great.
For us Sri Lankans of course any holiday is a good thing and I will happily welcome with open arms any and all that get thrown my way. Christmas is definitely special, though, because I get to see my family (all aunties and uncles included) and really just put my legs up with a piece of Christmas cake and relax!