The Christmas that never was and other pretty short stories

Charles Baraka,Derick Otieno,Michael Mwanza and Eugene Amani at the Somerset Westview Nairobi Christmas tree lighting and Kids Christmas Carols singing event by Somerst staff and Glory christian rescue home kids in Nairobi on 3rd December 2022. [David Gichuru,Standard]

Christmas travel has been banned in my household in recent years. This one-man campaign against the rising tide of consumerism and exhibitionism has been hard-fought; even the youngest man in the family relishes the prospects of lifting a landline and ordering for room service.

I am not exactly averse to travel: I say take me to the moon if you want, but do so in the first 51 weeks of the year. But I will not move an inch over the Christmas season. I will be home with family, not manga-mangaring around like a man of no fixed abode.