Growing up for me was one of the best stories I’ve heard from children in my generation. My parents were liberalists, they would correct us by telling us the consequences of the good and bad actions, I do not ever recall either of them shouting at us or spanking us, my mother mostly spoke with her eyes and we always understood the underlying message.

I give it to us that we were good children though, we were just two girls and we were the most adorable children anyone could have, we always got compliments from our parents’ friends, teachers at school and almost everyone we met wherever we went.

My mother worked as a teacher in Our Lady of Apostles(Yaba) and was one of the most preferred teachers in the school as reflected in the regular gifts the students got her. My father worked as a chauffeur to a business mogul whose children attended the same school with us, well yeah, they sponsored our tuition fees, how else could we have afforded Chrisland College?

My parents were the best anyone could have, they would shower us with love and care in ways that I would forever be grateful for.

The one thing I loved about my father’s job was that irrespective of how busy he was, he always made up time to come home early on Saturdays for the weekend.

As a child, Christmas was always the best thing that happened in the year to my siblings and I. I used to look forward to my Christmas presents and play in my head how I would narrate the story of how my Christmas went to my friends in school.

My father and mother always made it a point of duty to spend time with us every weekend and on special holidays. Sometimes it could be a picnic, an amusement park, the grotto or just staying at home for Christmas. One thing was sure, we always had fun.

As a twelve years old child, I still did not understand the essence of having both parents home for Christmas, I thought that what mattered were the gift and the fun, what does a child know?

Christmas fell on different days of the week but for each time, my father was available just in time to spend the day with us, yet I never really understood what it meant to have him around.

It was the Christmas of 2021 and it fell on a Saturday,I had woken up that morning with so much excitement in anticipation of the day’s festivities.

Daddy had not returned home the previous day because his boss was taking the family out to a resort and would be leaving very early today. They wanted to go early and return early so father would have time to come home to his own family.

This year, things had not been so good for us so we had not gotten any gift yet but mother assured us that we would get one before the new school year begins, so we were not expecting anything till New year celebration.

The plan for this year’s Christmas celebration was an indoor celebration within the family. I woke up to the smell of frying chicken and hurried with brushing so I could join mother and sister Aderonke in the kitchen.

While in the kitchen, I kept wondering what father must have gotten us as a present “madam, what are you thinking of” inquired mother, jogging back to reality, I realized she had been asking me to pass her the salt.

We cooked, my mother and Aderonke basically but I helped clean up. We went ahead to have our bath, father was not to return until the next two hours. We had something little to eat, just to “hold our stomach” while we waited.

After cleaning up, I chose to go back to bed while mother and Aderonke were watching a movie, they would wake me up when Father returned.

“Fadekemi,… up, daddy…” I could hear Aderonke screaming but the words were faint but the sound of daddy got me up on my feet, I rushed outside to where I had heard her voice from, with so many expectations, I thought I would see daddy with three big gift boxes.

There they were, already on their way in. Aderonke and mother were carrying two big boxes “go outside and pick yours, the delivery guy is waiting for you”. Delivery guy? I went out, and was greeted with a smile from the delivery guy who handed a beautifully wrapped box to me, “Fadekemi, merry Christmas from daddy” he said.

At this point, I was trying to understand a lot of things at the same time “How did he know my dad? How did he know our house? And mostly how did he know my name?” I was brought back to reality by the weight of the box I was carrying. On noticing the strain on my face, the delivery guy who later introduced himself as a kwikster offered to help me with my box but I declined. He had already done enough.” Thank you Mr….”,  “just call me kwikster” he interrupted, “oh, thank you kwikster”

As I walked past the front door and barely managed to shut it properly, my heart leapt for joy as it suddenly began to feel like my Dad was right beside me. I went into the sitting room, opened my gift and was excitedly amazed.

Daddy had gotten a very beautiful pair of sneakers, a wristwatch and a Tablet for me as my Christmas presents. I was super excited, I played scenes in my head of how I was going to rock the shoes and wristwatch to class, then hold the tablet for all to see in Church.

Aderonke and mummy had also gotten awesome gifts. With mother’s package came a note from dad, she made us gather around her to read the note which read: To the three most important people in my life,

I apologize for not being available to spend this Christmas with you, we got stuck in traffic, but I had to find a way to make you happy so I called Kwik to come to pick up the gifts from the car and have them delivered to you. Although these gifts cannot replace my absence, I hope they remind you that you are always on my mind.

With love from daddy Santa.”

Daddy was right, the gifts could not replace his absence, nevertheless, they made our home smell like Christmas again.

Brief: A story to show how Kwik saves the day during the Christmas season. Also, a Kwikster is what we call our Kwik riders.