Christmas wishes versus the reality

Christmas is just around the corner. In an ideal world Christmas is a time of celebration with happiness and family togetherness. This year in Zimbabwe the reality at Christmas will stand out in stark contrast to the ideal Christmas because of the economic collapse in the country.

This morning as I lay awake in my sheets watching the breaking dawn from my bedroom window, I couldn't help but day dream about the Christmas I wish I could have this year. I got carried away thinking about past Christmases during the years of plenty when there was lots of celebratory food & wine, when I could afford to buy presents for all my close relatives & when we could afford to visit a holiday resort during Christmas time. All that was stolen from us by hyper-inflation, all we are left with are cherished memories of how it used to be and it is those memories that our hope feeds on and make us soldier on through the suffering without breaking down, with the hope that one day soon we will be able to live those memories again.
Here are my memories of past Christmases in pictures.






I wish for a heaven on earth this Christmas and I have faith that God will give me that heaven that I wish for maybe not in the earthly realm but definately in my heart
as I give my children, my dad and my brothers all the love that I have got in my heart that I could not express in the form of Christmas presents. In our family we intend to make this year's Christmas be full of the normal love & happiness and have fun even in the absence of anything to celebrate the day with.



I intend to spend the day quietly in the confines of my apartment doing the things I always enjoy doing. Like waking up my two daughters with a pillow fight, giving each other the small but full of love gifts that we sacrificed to get for each other and then telling them how I am the next person after Jesus who loves them, going to church with Grandpa and after church finding a quiet place to sit in the garden and meditate or do some soul-searching, playing with my daughters in the garden if the weather permits, then go back home to watch TV, water my lovely indoor plants, pamper myself with a relaxing bath and finally before I go to bed I will get online with my laptop and get in touch with Asha the love of my love who is in a very faraway land and couldn't come to join us this Christmas.









This to most of you, might seem like a boring way to spend Christmas but to me with love, peace and happiness surrounding me it will be a heaven on earth amid the rubble that Zimbabwe, the country I live in has become.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL.