Serani to spend Christmas with his ‘main lady’

Multi-talented artiste Serani spent the past five Christmases going from one family dinner to the next. That won't be the case this year because of the coronavirus pandemic and the government-imposed 7 p.m. curfew for the public holidays.

This year, Serani will be spending the special day with his main lady - his mother, Pearline Marsh.

"Mom lives here in Jamaica, right down the road from me, and dad [Collin 'Collo' Marsh] is in Florida. They have not been together for some time, and I'd mostly spend Christmas with mom, but I, too, had developed my own traditions," Serani said. "Now that I am single, I am spending the day with her. She already knows what I want to eat -- from her very awesome rice and peas to her roast beef," he added.

In a recent interview with THE STAR, the No Games hitmaker revealed that he went through a break-up last June.

"When I was with my now ex-girlfriend, I would spend time with her family and we would bounce around and get fat on Christmas Day," he said.

For Serani, Christmas has always been about family. He said that growing up, his parents ensured that the holiday and the spirit of the season were not lost on them. Gifts at the foot of a well-decorated tree, as well as having lights around the house, gave the unmistakable feel that it was Christmas time.

"Boxing Day, we would leave Kingston at around 3 a.m. and drive for an hour and 50 minutes to Labyrinth, St Mary," he recalled. "We did this until I was about 12 years old. The first stop would be at a farm to buy the goat." And as you may well imagine, this is the day that the big family cooking takes place.

"As a child, I watched the entire process of mi father and him second dem kill the goat -- same for the chickens -- then skin the goat, scrape off the head and prepare a big, tall pot a goat head soup on a makeshift coal stove. I'm a boy, so those things didn't bother me even at that age. Then we run roun' as pickney in the yard," he said. "Mommy would make ham; I don't think she's made any since my childhood days."

Serani said the food his father would prepare was the main attraction for family members who resided in Jamaica, as well as relatives who flew in for the holiday period.

Looking ahead to Christmas dinner, the reggae-dancehall crooner said he will definitely be adding something to the menu for his mommy-son dinner, but he has yet to decide what it is.

"My specialty is Jamaican seafood -- curry coconut 'steamaz', garlic lobster and roast fish. I make the best roast fish, or so I've been told. I believe I have mastered that, as well as cooking basa. I don't think my mom will appreciate what I have in mind to make, which is tuna steak, because I know how she stay with food, and since it is the type of fish that has to be eaten pink [medium-rare], I doubt she will want to eat it," Serani said.

He told THE STAR that all he wants to do this Christmas is to "make the people I love, happy".