Freelance announcer Aika Kanda: “What are your memories of Christmas? is my weak point.

At this time of year, I am often asked at work, “What are your memories of Christmas?” I am asked. I wish I had a standard Christmas episode, such as a memory of a sparkling date, being rejected just before Christmas, or a memory of bombing out on gifts for myself, but no matter how much I try to recall …… every year, I can only come up with the following memories.

Episode 1 Impatience with My Brother

On Christmas morning when I was 8 years old, a doll arrived at my bedside, which a girl from a neighboring house had asked Santa for. (Santa had the wrong house. Mooo!!!) ) I was angry, but I thought that if I showed my dissatisfied face, he might not come in the future, so I desperately welcomed the doll I didn’t want with a smile. Meanwhile, a large box of presents arrived at my 1-year-old brother’s bedside. If my little brother, who can only speak “maa maa” and “dakkoo,” could get such a big present as requested, (no fair!) I thought. Then my mother said, “Aika open it,” so I opened the box so as not to wake my sleeping brother. (Huh?). I opened the box. What was inside was a cuckoo clock. It was wooden, in the shape of a birdhouse, and every hour or so a pigeon would come out of the door and coo “Cuckoo! It was the one with the dove coming out of the door every hour. My mother was beside me and said, “Wow, it’s beautiful! (My brother had one of these!).

（My brother did this!) (My brother did this?!) I was speechless. I was speechless because it was so unexpected, but I looked for similarities between the cuckoo clock and my brother. The color of the towel he always clutched and the roof of the cuckoo clock were the same light blue color. (I see, you specified the color. But why did he ask for such a thing when he hasn’t even been to kindergarten yet and it doesn’t run on a fixed time?) I felt impatient at the time because my one-year-old brother wanted something so “adult”.