I hate spending Christmas with my in-laws. It is plain torture. A typical Christmas upcountry involves a feasting session. Problem is this feast is prepared by daughters-in-law under very circumstances meant to test their so-called humility and resilience.
Last year, I recall my husband's sisters were seated under a cozy shade as they watched the wives of their brothers (myself included) making chapati on the three-stone fire. It was a smoky and dizzying cooking episode that by the time I was done, I was so exhausted I had no energy to even eat the chapos.
"Mama Tasha please make the chapos on the kendo (three stones) they taste better than the ones made on the jiko," I recall my nastiest sister-in-law 'politely' ordering me when she spotted me going for the charcoal jiko.
I was so pissed.
"But why didn't you just tell her off," my dear friend Steph asked when I narrated my 'ordeal' to her.
Problem is, my husband's home is still a foreign turf and because everything I think and do is scrutinised, I tread carefully lest they should think their brother made a horrible choice. Don't blame me, the world is a stage, and we are all actors.
But if I was in a safe, friendly and familiar territory like my mother's house and my elder sister made such a ridiculous demand, I would give her a piece of my mind.
Christmas with in laws is also a time for showing off.
"Oh you guys still have that old Toyota..."
'Oh you guys still live in Eastlands, how do you manage with all the insecurity and filth?" my nasty sis-in-law is notorious for asking these annoying questions every time we meet upcountry during the Christmas period.
Why can't she let our jalopy be? it serves us well, though not as well as their Range Rover Discovery. But we are not complaining.
I have spent so many Christmases with my in laws, and most of them have been torturous defeating the whole essence of Christmas.
So this time round, I said enough is enough. I convinced my hubby we try some place fresh and different other than upcountry.
Difficult as he always is, he agreed and that is how I found myself in an enchanting beach. Just me, hubby and the kids.
There is nothing as peaceful and refreshing as lazing around on a beach enjoying the Christmas cheer and spirit. No malicious sisters-in-law who want you to fetch water from the river just to prove that their brother got a hard-working wife.
No chipping your well-manicured nails with fuel wood and poisoning your lungs with smoke.
No cooking food and serving everybody else only to realise hours later that after all the sacrifice, you and your children have no food to eat because everyone forgot about you.
This Christmas, I enjoyed the simple joys of life.
The writer is a married working mother of a toddler boy and a pre-school girl. She shares her experience of juggling between career, family and social life.
