The Genesis….
In the course of planning the Christmas repertoire for the Baby and Toddler music classes at KMC, I felt a familiar sense of unease with using the regular festive songs about snowflakes, reindeer and Santa climbing up chimneys… These songs, as lovely as they are, do not reflect the lived experience of the children we teach in Nigeria. They needed something different, more relatable, more in line with their own realities. That’s when the seeds of “Baby’s Christmas Menu” was sown.
I began to play with some ideas and melodies in my head, and sang these ideas into Suno.ai. After a few tweaks, the song “What Will You Eat On Christmas Day” emerged.
As much as I enjoyed writing and co-creating the song with Suno, I felt a picture book was also needed to bring the song to life. My two year old grandson, Psalm, loves reading, and I knew that a song-storybook would give him a great deal of enjoyment.
And so I did some research into the origins of some of the iconic dishes that grace a Nigerian Christmas table. I was thrilled to be able to associate each dish with a unique people group, complete with their traditional outfits and toddler-friendly musical instruments. Again, AI (this time Gemini.ai) was helpful in creating the vibrant images of toddlers and their parents, preparing and enjoying these typical Nigerian dishes. And that’s how the “Baby’s Christmas Menu” storybook was born.
It is impossible, of course, to feature all the popular Nigerian dishes in a 3 minute song, nor is it possible to visually represent the over 500 people groups in one picture book. I hope that what has been captured in the song and the book is enough to bring a smile to the faces of babies and toddlers this Christmas season, and open their eyes to the richness and beauty of Nigeria’s culture and cuisine.
If you know any fun-loving baby / toddler who would enjoys this book, please pre-order a copy or two via the link below.
And as a thank you for even being interested in this project, I am pleased to share a bonus resource with more information on the characters, cultures and dishes featured in the book. Follow the link below to download the free resource.
Thank you for visiting this page.
I wish you a very happy, and yummy Christmas.
