Food In My Culture: Teagan

Christmas

I am from Niue and one of the major celebrations we love to do is Christmas. My family loves to celebrate Christmas. We always start off at home and then go to my Nana’s house. My Mum always makes the best food. My brothers and I always get excited for the presents.  We have a big lunch so my Mum and Dad prepare a lot of things the day before.

My Mum and Dad always prepare some of the food on Christmas Eve. My Dad always marinades the meats. My mum also does her chicken which is so good, as if it is from KFC. She also does her mussel chowder and the rest of her seafoods.  My brothers and I always make sure that there is some cookies and a glass of milk, and that our stockings are up. When my brothers fall asleep I eat two of the cookies and bite one in half and drink all the milk. My mum fills up the stockings with a lot of chocolates and heaps of lollies. They just can’t wait for Christmas.

Now usually my brothers sleep in, but because it is Christmas, they are up extra early.  They are running and screaming down the hallway screaming “Its Christmas! Its Christmas!” They wake me up. They dash to their presents and they are very happy. As my Mum and Dad have already prepared the food, all they have to do is cook it.  My brothers and I eat our chocolate and lollies then I tell them that Santa has been here, because he has eaten the cookies.

Once lunch it ready we all go and eat. We have Ham (cold), ribs, crispy chicken, prawns, crab salad and my dad’s favourite thing to cook, is chicken curry.  Then we eat the rest of our lollies. My Mum and Dad pack some of the food and we get ready to take it to our Nana’s.

We always take food down to my Nana’s. Our aunties, uncles, cousins always bring food so we have a big feast. Every Christmas our family has a big party and we celebrate. Sometimes we have presents for other family members or we are celebrating someone coming back from overseas. My Nana would always give my brothers and I the best presents, because we see her all the time. She would also give us lollies too, so we would have lollies for breakfast, lollies for lunch, and lollies for dinner.

My family loves to celebrate Christmas. My mum always makes the best food, so starts making it the night before. My brothers and I always get excited for the presents, and that’s why I love Christmas.

Teagan