How I saved Christmas

Coming from a west African household, many western holiday traditions aren’t practised. Occasions like Christmas don’t differ much from other celebrations like Easter, a birthday or New years - same music, same food, same attitude.
One of my objectives for 2023 was to practise my hosting skills as well as be proactive in creating the experiences I wanted.

Context

How can I elevate our current lacklustre family Christmas to be an event worth looking forward to?

Task

Research

While the ‘grown-ups’ may be completely fine with our usual Christmas, I knew it was impossible that I was the only one of my cousins who thought it was boring.
So I sat and brainstormed ‘What has Christmas been?’

What has history shown?

If I was a Kardashian, what would my Christmas look like?

Now that I knew what I didn’t like, the fun could begin. I looked out specifically for aesthetics, food, table setup, decorations and bucket lists. If i had all the money in the world and the most enthusiastic family members, what would i do for christmas? When I watch christmas movies, why do I feel so warm?

I forgot to ask for permission 😬
At this point, 2 weeks before the holiday, Christmas was going to be held in my Uncle’s house out of town. With all the ideas I had, I thought it would be difficult for me to execute it in someone else’s home.

So I made a presentation! The main objective was to highlight current trends in our Christmas and suggest easy-to-execute solutions. Then beg for us to hold Christmas in my mum’s house instead.

Asking for permission

View here
He agreed and a group chat was made.

  • Permissions - It was going to be held in my mum’s house (where I no longer live).

  • Time - I only got the confirmation 1.5 weeks before Christmas.

  • Money - As I was hosting I was (unknowingly) expected to pay for everything.

Limitations

A special menu was prepared, the house was decorated nicely, Christmas music played softly, and the family enjoyed playing games for hours.

Outcome