The Christmas I'll Never Forget - Davina Bennett remembers grandma's cooking

Miss Universe Jamaica Davina Bennett's Christmas memories are familiar and traditional, but simultaneously demonstrate the national motto, 'Out Of Many, One People'.

"I think my best Christmas memory would be the last one spent with my grandma in 2015," Bennett told THE WEEKEND STAR. Her grandmother passed last year.

"It (the last Christmas with her) was good because the entire family gathered. My family is very traditional when it comes on to Christmas Day," Bennett said.

Where the family dinner follows a general Jamaican food menu, Bennett's Indian grandmother included eastern treats like gulgula.

Gulgula is a traditional Indian sweet treat, considered a 'mini doughnut' made in rural parts of the country, usually reserved for festive occasions.

"It's mixed with sugar, raisins, flour and it's fried. My grandmother made it every single year," she said.

JAMAICAN TRADITION

Along with gulgula, Bennett's grandmother also incorporated roti and dahl on the family's dinner spread.

"She had to incorporate her heritage, and stuff she liked," she continued.

Following Jamaican tradition, they came together in the morning and had breakfast. After breakfast is the opening of presents and usually everybody has something for somebody.

"Then, we get ready for dinner time," Bennett said. Curried goat, the ham, Indian confections along with "everything traditional" is how Bennett describes dinner proceedings.

"After dinner, we sit and talk, and in the night we gather again to to light the starlights and fireworks, just to create a little excitement to end the night," she said.

On Boxing Day, the Bennett family would gather again, for toppings.

This year will be a lot different for the reigning Universe Jamaica queen, " in the sense that I'm more busy than I've been on any other Christmas. But I will be spending it with people close to me, just not in the traditional setting this year," she said.

Closer to the end of the month, Bennett will be heading back to Mitchell Town, Clarendon, for a homecoming/Christmas/New Year's treat.

"I do have things on the schedule, but on New Year's Day I plan to relax, and have a little time to myself," Bennett said.