If the family squabbles — or outright disasters — depicted in the How to Ruin Christmas franchise feel (uncomfortably) familiar to you, you’re not alone. In fact, the show’s co-creators Rethabile and Katleho Ramaphakela, who are also siblings, intended to create a heartfelt-yet-comedic-yet-cringey show that encapsulates family dynamics during the holidays. Inspired by their own family experiences, Rethabile and Katleho Ramaphakela explain how they came up with the concept for the series.
“When we wrote the first season, we wanted that relatability because it was, like, surely every family has this because we have it,” says Katleho. It’s not hard to see why they related so much to their audience: Many of us have suffered from being on the receiving end of — or even been — that drunken relative who rambles about their glory years at Christmas dinner. Others may, unfortunately, identify more with the show’s lead disaster, Tumi Sello (Busi Lurayi), who nearly derails her own sister’s wedding in Season 1, only to come back and make even more messes in Season 2’s How to Ruin Christmas: The Funeral. Ahead of the second season premiere, we spoke to Lurayi, as well as Rethabile and Katleho, about their own Christmas traditions and how they inspired the film.
Did anything about the families in How to Ruin Christmas remind you of your own? Busi Lurayi: My family is exactly like the Sellos. When we’re at my grandmother's house, we are here and we are family, no matter how bad the situation is, we’re fixing it together. The uncle is already drunk in the morning. We know it, we're not judging him. We're just like, "Bless you, Uncle."
Katleho Ramaphakela: When we wrote the first season, or put ideas down for the first square season, we wanted that relatability because it was like, surely every family has this because we have it. We have the overly Christian [relative] — there'll always be prayer before every single thing.
Rethabile: The longest prayer.
Katleho: “Thank you for arriving safely to the destination... ” then a prayer for the people in the kitchen making the food…
Rethabile: After Christmas, when it's over, thank you for everything. And then we sing hymns.
Katleho: And then, in the same breath, you’re outside interacting with your drunk uncle or cousin who's much older and thinks they know every single thing in life. So all those familiarities are actually things that we try to also put on screen in that first season where we created those characters.
It’s clear that the film draws on personal experiences, which is what makes it so relatable. Can you describe what a typical Christmas would be like for your own families?
Busi: Mornings would be incredibly early. The aunts are all up in the kitchen... Everybody's trying to get the meal together. Depending on which family we're in, it could even be the extreme traditions, like the slaughtering of a big cow outside. I know that sounds traumatic for a lot of people, but it's a real thing for us. The morning of it’s a proper cookout. And it's like the military. There's structure. You know the key potato cooker. You know who does the roast beef the best. And don't try and mess things up. Don't try.
Rethabile: We'd have Christmas lunch and then drive about two hours out from where we were, and we’d go to this family resort called Sun City, where there's rides and arcade games.
Katleho: Sun City was a vibe because [of] being from Soweto and not getting to go out to these resorts and theme parks. You get to drive about two hours, and you’re looking forward to going there for that two hours. There's games everywhere.
Rethabile: My other highlight was getting all the arcade tickets. So once you've played all the games, you get all these tickets, and you can collect a toy. So that was my thing of running around with a string of tickets, and then my brothers would get more than me and I'd get upset. And then it's this whole thing of what gift I want to choose for myself.
Katleho: It's different eras of Christmas because now it's more we are alternating, spending time at each other's places. I love it as part of the family, and sometimes we extend it to the extended family.
What’s your favorite Christmas memory?
Busi: When I was a little girl, my mother convinced me that if you wake up at five o'clock on Christmas day, you get a chance to see the sun dance. And I truly believed it. I didn't find [out until] I was close to 30 that the sun “dances” every morning. It’s an illusion. I’ve passed that tradition on to my daughter.
Rethabile: We camped outside my aunt's backyard one year, randomly. I was in my late 20s, my cousins were maybe [in our] early 30s. Our parents stayed in the house and we were making our own cocktails. We were getting drunk in this backyard with our tents set up and everything. And it was just... I don't even know whose idea it was.
Katleho: The camping, and actually realizing that Father Christmas didn't exist. It was such a mind fuck. My dad goes through all this effort to wake up when we are all asleep and put presents under the tree. And like I said, I let him believe that I didn't know for whatever reason. And that moment was just like, I looked at him differently, I was like, “Oh, okay, this man actually does this.” He goes all the way out and doesn't even tell us and makes us think that somebody else did it.
Okay, here’s a sentimental one: What’s your favorite part about spending the holidays with your family?
Busi: I love the part where the next day I'm kind of going, "How did I get here?" So I suppose there must be a part. It's the part where I've literally lost my morals, that's also possibly my second favorite if I have to ask, "Who brought me to my bed?" It's the familiarity of waking up in the morning and knowing without doubt, there's going to be a vibe, I'm going to be with my people, with my family.
Rethabile: I suppose it’s being together. I know that's cheesy and everyone's going to say that, but we've gone into the stage that we're so busy. We're so busy, we don't get to do things. And most recently, we started playing games with one another. I think Christmas last year, actually, we played Pictionary, which we haven't played since we were kids. But it was hilarious. And it's a game that you would never think you'd want to play with your parents again now you're in your mid 30s.
Katleho: It's kind of the same. I think just the clichéness of being together as a family. We’re blessed that both our parents are still alive and with us today, so you cherish [those moments] even more now when it's family time. We don't get to see people much. We know that at least on Christmas, we can switch off. It's not like other times when we are together and we still like checking emails on our phones. You're just in the moment and you’re with your family, so that's really appealing now. The older you get, I think that starts to mean more than getting gifts when you were a kid.
