by Chidera, age 10 from Lagos, Nigeria, asks Santa about making a Christmas list, Lagos Lagoon, and Nigerian family homecoming traditions.
Dear Santa, my name is Chidera, and I am ten years old. I live in Lagos, Nigeria, where our whole street fills up with relatives every December because so many families travel home for Christmas.
Dear Chidera, a street bursting with returning relatives sounds like one of the liveliest Christmases anywhere on my whole route, and I always look forward to that Lagos energy.
Santa, I have three questions.
Can I make a Christmas list? My little cousin already made hers with twenty things on it and my mama says that is far too many.
You can absolutely make a list, Chidera, and I will gently agree with your mama, twenty items is an ambitious start. A shorter list with a few things you really want tends to make Christmas morning feel more like magic and less like a shopping spree.
My teacher says Lagos sits right on a big lagoon by the ocean. Is that true?
It is true, Chidera, Lagos sits along a large lagoon connected to the Atlantic Ocean, and all that water glittering under city lights makes for one of the most striking approaches on my whole African route.
My mama says so many Nigerian families travel home to their hometowns every December just to be together. Is that true?
It is very true, Chidera, and it is one of my favorite things about Nigerian Christmas. Families often travel long distances back to their hometowns and villages every December, filling towns with reunions, celebrations, and long overdue hugs. That instinct to travel however far it takes just to be near the people you love is really the heart of the whole season.
Merry Christmas, Santa.
Your friend,
Chidera Okafor
Lagos, Nigeria
P.S. Can you please talk my cousin down to ten things on her list?
I will do my best, Chidera, though ambitious cousins are notoriously difficult to negotiate with.
