When they were much younger, 58-year-old Andrea Dunkley and her 15 siblings would run to their neighbours’ homes to tell them that Christmas dinner was ready.

You may be wondering why they made that their duty. It’s because their parents made it theirs to share whatever food they could at Christmastime.

“Christmas morning, in my days, my grandma and grandpa used to have a lot of cooking. When dinner get ready, we used to run next door to give Miss Matty, we go to aunty, we go to our great-grandmother, and the people below us. Grandma and grandpa used to share things. It’s not like now when we just keep things to ourselves. Grandma and grandpa used to share,” Dunkley told the Jamaica Observer.

“We had goat, baked bammies, chicken, grandpa used to milk the cow, and we share all of that. Christmas was fun,” the Chantilly district, Manchester, resident continued.

On a more personal note, the night of Christmas Eve saw the 16 siblings laying out hats, making room for gifts from Santa.

Dunkley told the Observer that, “Grandma used to tell us to take out grandpa hats and put them in the chairs. So, when you put them in the chairs, Santa Claus will come in the night and put our gifts in them. So we are always excited to see Christmas morning.”

And, when the sun rose on Christmas morning, they would wake up eager, with wondering eyes, thinking, “What did Santa bring for me?”

“It was 16 of us as grandchildren, so we run to our gifts in our hats that we put down. It was exciting. Christmas was nice,” said Dunkley.

She also remembers everyone getting dressed to go out on Christmas Eve for a night of entertainment.

“When we come onto grand market night now, we used to go to the Maypole dance, and we saw the elderly people dancing and the Jonkanoo. It was very much fun.”

Maypole dance is a ceremonial folk dance performed around a tall pole covered with greenery or flowers and often hung with ribbons that are woven into complex patterns by the dancers, and Jonkano is one of the oldest dance forms in Jamaica, which was performed on the three holidays allowed to the enslaved Africans in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Moreover, Dunkley told the Observer that her grandparents and parents’ traditions have become hers. She now does a lot of cooking similar to her grandparents and invites people from all walks of life for Christmas dinner.

“My mother is in Kingston, so I am inviting my mother, my elder sister, my little baby sister, my kids in Ocho Rios and Negril down for Christmas dinner. They will have a big cooking and eating and merrymaking at home.”

When asked what the Observer team should expect if they visit her home on Christmas Day, she said a “galore of food”.

“Oh Lord,” she exclaimed.

“Chicken, pork, mutton for breakfast with soft yam, sorrel, and the girls will be taking some wine. They are younger folks. I don’t do the alcohol,” she said, laughing. “It will be so good. You would enjoy yourself.”