My Holiday Plans : Christmas Edition

Holidays are special periods of excitement, fun, rest and relaxation. After a long and hectic year of target setting and goal chasing, one deserves a special threat. That's why holiday periods are highly anticipated. Though I've allowed my holiday events to play out by themselves in the last few years, this time I'm taking a more direct, deliberate role in deciding what I want to do and whatnot, and where I want to go.

Family Gathering
My end of the year holiday is never settled without the yearly family gathering. The gathering involves myself, my wife and kids, and my brothers and sister. There, we are served rice and chicken stew in a large tray - would have preferred pounded yam and egusi soup but dad doesn't eat "swallow" food. After bringing down the big rice wall and dealing with the chicken, then we get down to the business of the day.

The major reason for that gathering is to discuss our failures and successes of the ending year and plans for the incoming one. Without doubt, it's always a moment of truth because, in some cases, criticisms do creep in and discussions may get heated. We've never had any reason to come to blows at any point before but there was a time when an argument got intense between my little ones that I had to step in before it escalated further. At the end of it all, we hug it out, have a good laugh about it, eat, and play some video games together before we depart for our various destinations. Family gatherings are always the start of my holiday. Already looking forward to this year's gathering.

Idanre Hills
One of the plans I have for this holiday period is to do what I've never really done before - travel around to some places of history and cultural significance. Since this is the first time I'm doing this, I chose to keep it simple with little travelling distance. So, my first point of call is the mercurial Idanre Hills. I grew up listening to tales about the hill sitting about 3000ft above sea level. Idanre town is about 20 minutes away from my destination. Despite having distant relatives living in the town, I've only visited once for religious activities and never got to move around the place. This time, I'm heading to the popular hill for sightseeing. I'm really excited about that already.

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Erin Ijesha Waterfall
This waterfall is one of the tourist attraction centres I've heard a lot about since I was little. In fact, I was close to visiting with a group of friends at some point but missed out on the fun due to some pressing engagements. With the holidays fast approaching, I just can't wait to go have a nice time at the popular waterfall. One thing that is certain is that the place will be crawling with tourists at this time of the year, thus making the place a very bubbly and lively environment.

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To end the holiday special, I'll definitely hang out with my day one folks on the first day of the new year to enjoy some goat meat through the night. And then, the crazy race of life continues!