For many people Christmas is such a special time of the year, typically known as the season of giving, it is a time to get together with family and friends and enjoy a big feast with the people we love.

Everyone has their own unique festive traditions which they cherish, so the Northsider asked local singing sensation Gabrielle De Gama who hails from Weltevreden Park to share her annual plans for the festive season. While Secret Santa, gammon, Boney M and family time remain the common denominators, the 15-year-old who has made headlines across South African media agrees that the majority of people love the festive season and it is no different for her and her family.

“During the festive season we have a couple of traditions we usually follow, we start off by setting up the Christmas tree very close to my birthday on 23 November. A bit closer to Christmas, we go to an annual Christmas party with our family and friends, where we share Christmas gifts before everyone rushes off on holiday. We always make our family recipe of pumpkin fritters and my mom’s Christmas gammon recipe,” said Gabrielle.

According to the Agape Christian School learner, on Christmas Eve, her family host their own family dinner where they play dominoes and card games with grandparents until midnight. On Christmas morning, they open gifts and head to church to honour Jesus Christ for giving them the celebration.

“Christmas for me is the smell of preparing gammon while playing Boney M or Mariah Carey, frying pumpkin fritters, playing board games and laying around with our full bellies. Christmas is family time, this year I will add in playing piano and singing Christmas Carols, I have been practicing jingle bells day and night,” said Gabrielle.

In July next year, Gabrielle will be heading to The International Modeling and Talent Association (IMTA) convention in New York City where she will perform in front of 300 international industry professionals for a chance to receive international recognition and possible job opportunities.

She also booked a lead role alongside award winning Scottish actor Iain Glen from Game of Thrones in a MNet series titled ‘Reyka’, the show was broadcast in July 2021 and was a great success.