JagaJaga | ✓

01: Let the Jingles Come

The arrangements and setup was completely complete, the ornaments had been placed at every specific area she had wanted it to be, the twig stars had been hung above the LG C8- Series 4K OLED TV, the pine cone Christmas tree had been littered across the surface of the windows same with the twine angels she had specially asked the decoration shop to make and the tree was up and standing right between the television wall and the left window that overlooked the garden outside the house.

Eboseremen Irabor smiled as she admired her hard work. She had been organizing since the beginning of the month, she walked outside to look at the decorations put in place once more and she gave herself a good job pat, mentally. She wanted to be an event planner when she was done with school and after so much persuasion and pleading from both her sisters and herself to her parents, they had finally allowed her take the ultimate task of planning the Christmas ceremony for the year. The extended Irabor family consisted of three boys including her father and they took it upon themselves to host the Christmas events by allowing one Irabor son every year to be a host in his house. This year had been Eronmosele Irabors turn and Ebose had decided that if she was going to be world known as an event planner, she had better start with her home. Her parents had refused her straight up because this was one of those periods the men showed off to themselves as well as pull off a very impressive occasion to remember, they had given her instances where she had forgotten to do something important like add someone to the high table list on her Mothers 48th birthday when she was allowed to arrange the activity list only and when she had forgotten to book the cake for her sisters 20th birthday.

Eronmosle and his wife, Omozelle had three girls, the twins Efosa and Eghosa and her. She always wondered why her sisters treated her like she was a boy with how they told her not to wear dresses because she would look like a straight pencil and how makeup would be disastrous on her if they ever did whenever she asked them to 'beat her face up'. She knew it was because everyone had anticipated the birth of a male child after the twins and even the pregnancy scan her mother took detected she was a boy but somehow she had been born. Every picture of her one month old days had been taken in males clothing and she was always very embarrassed to show any of her friends that asked to see her throwbacks.

"Ebose," she turned around to see her across the street neighbour who had come out dressed in a pink robe and her hair covered up in net. Ever since they moved to the area when she was seven, Mrs Adetola always had the habit of coming outside of her house by 7:00am in that same robe and seat on the chair she kept at the front porch. Her parents had told her to mind her business but she had asked the woman who had no child out of curiosity. She had replied her sincerely 'I like seeing as children go to school, it helps calm my mind everyday,' since then, Ebose always made sure she was outside of the house by 7:00am so she could greet the woman when she came out too.

"Mummy," she called her that because her mother had also told her the woman was older than her by lots of years even if she looked younger than he especially with the way she did her hair and fixed long nails. It was an unwritten constitution in the Nigerian culture that anyone who was older than your parents was automatically called Mummy or Daddy especially if they had no child. All the houses in the area had an open frontage without gate, this made it easy for Ebose to cross over to the womans place. She smiled at her as she took her seat in her regular chair, the color of her nails this month were green and red to match the season.

"I like this your house o, you are really good at events decoration," the thick Yoruba accent her sisters used to laugh at was fully on display as she said her words. They both looked over at the creme colored two storey building she had decorated with dedication for the sole purpose of becoming a renowned events planner, she felt very satisfied with the work and knew if Mrs.Adetola was impressed, there was no one who wouldn't be impressed and nothing could stop this from being the most memorable Christmas for anyone especially herself. One day she would get to write her autobiography and she would state how her major career began from the best Christmas ever.