How to Live Up to the True Spirit of Christmas Despite Challenges

In popular culture and the media, Christmas is portrayed as a time of happiness, togetherness, generosity, and peace. In the "made for Christmas" movies, such as those on the popular Hallmark Channel, a "feel good" message is the order of the day.

Whether it be the rekindling of a long-lost love or reconciling between family members after a long and painful conflict, viewers are led to believe that there is a certain kind of "magic" at work during what has become known in largely secular terms as "the holiday season".

Many people believe, either overtly or tacitly, that Christmas and the celebrations surrounding it will bring them joy, peace, happiness and togetherness, writes Dion Forster for The Conversation.

However because of the economic depression around the continent a possibly gloomy Christmas awaits many. Celebration among many Nigerians appears gloomy as the festive season's draws nearer owing to the astronomical hike in food items. Food items such as rice, vegetable oil, frozen and live chickens, tomato paste, pepper and condiments, which are essential for Christmas and New Year parties are beyond the reach of many.

Kenyan families are expected to spend 17% less on celebrations this year compared to 2021, new data from WorldRemit has shown.

Zimbabweans are bracing for a dark festive season as the country has daily power outages for 19 hours because there is not enough water in the Kariba dam to operate the country's primary hydropower plant.

According to Eskom COO, Jan Oberholzer, South Africans should expect more blackouts during the festive season and beyond as prolonged load shedding will continue to be implemented over the coming months as major capital projects and repairs reduce available generation capacity.