A Heartwarming Christmas Chin-Chin Story

One of the beautiful things about having kids is that you get to see life through their own eyes and grow with them as they experience human existence. From stretching your views about life to accommodate new things and understanding how you can try to raise wholesome creatures, children are all in your business. So today, I want to share a heartwarming story from last Christmas.

As parents (my husband and I), we try to teach our kids about money (earning, spending, and sharing); we also teach them about compassion and character, especially the part that involves the types of friendships you cultivate and how to give (not just taking from others every time).

Bear in mind that we have also attempted Secret Santa at home. Last Christmas, my kids were thinking of how to spend the cash they had earned throughout the year, and we wanted to remind them to include at least one friend in their Christmas spending budget (money earned plus the gifts and extra added by Mum). Well, that was a good thing, but the interesting part was when it was time to go in person to deliver the gift. So we had a card, chocolate, and a container of chin-chin included in the gift bag.

Nigerian Chin-Chin

It was an exciting moment as we braved the cold and went house by house to deliver the gifts. Fast forward till January when school resumes; one of my son's friends came to school with his own version of chin-chin, made from home. My son said they laughed together, and it was a realization that his friend loved the Nigerian Chin-Chin included in the gift bag so much that they (his mother, perhaps) used the list of ingredients (flour, eggs, milk, nutmeg, sugar, salt, butter, oil) we wrote and attached to the container to make their version.

Puff-Puff

Then when my son tells me after school about the chin-chin, I am so surprised. He says to me, "Well, he too was surprised." I then asked how it made him feel, and he said he was happy. In that moment I reminded my son of how sharing something positive from your culture can be a good thing. It is also a moment that reminds you to be proud of where you come from. Chin-Chin is one of the snacks I make at home to include in their lunch bag (also puff-puff), and it is very common in Nigeria. Just having someone from a different culture appreciate our snack is a different level of heartwarming and makes the effort worth it.

I have shared jollof rice in my office potluck and my original recipe of baked chicken, but the Chin-Chin experience with my son is very special, and a huge shout-out to his friend and his amazing family for embracing the snack and not dumping it in the dustbin.