Christmas in India

Christmas here in India went surprisingly well, considering it was my first Christmas away from home and with Laurie, my stepmother, being ill. For most of the month of December I was a little depressed. When I left the US after Thanksgiving everything was decorated for the holidays and it was snowing. I had to come back to India to the heat and the humidity and the dirt. So needless to say I felt like the only one who was celebrating Christmas. But I tried to make the most of it.

When I first got back in early December I set out to decorate our apartment. I wanted to make it look like Christmas but on a limited budget, since anything I bought I would most likely not bring back to the states with us. I put up a very tiny, but pretty, 2' tree with red and gold decorations, matching wreath and stockings, and some other small stuff around the house. It didn't look like home but it was nice. Here's a picture of our tree on Christmas morning.


I also spent a few days before Christmas making Christmas treats. It was challenging, since I don't have an oven here in India, but I think I did a good job. I made magic cookie bars, fudge, peanut butter balls, chocolate covered marshmallows, mini sugar cookies (that would cook in my convection oven), and reindeer droppings (chocolate covered marshmallows and pretzels. Here's the tray I put out Christmas day.
Christmas even was nice because Apoorva and I just spent the evening at home with some traditional items we may have at home for Christmas dinner. We had a roasted duck, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and stuffing. All of it came from the Hyatt here in Mumbai and it was delicious. The only thing I was really missing was the breads (like cranberry, pumpkin, bananna, etc). But even without bread it was great to have these foods that reminded me of home.

After dinner we cleaned up for a bit (since his parents were coming over the next day), did some last minute wrapping, and watched a Charlie Brown Christmas. We decided that we are going to make this a Christmas tradition for the two of us and watch a traditional holiday movie every Christmas eve. Maybe next year we'll watch another one of my favorites; Roudolf the Red Nosed Raindeer.

Apoorva's parents ended up inviting themselved over for dinner on Christmas, which I was not happy about. I only had a few days notice and I hate entertaining over here. It's just too much pressure/stress. But I got over myself and sucked it up for Apoorva. It'll probably be the only Christmas we will have here in India.

Christmas morning with just me and Apoorva was nice. We woke up around 8 and slowly got out of bed and made our way to the living room. We took our time opening presents. I got a really nice white gold and gem stone necklace, a few books, two movies (Horton Hears a Who & Ice Age 2), a pair of pink shoes, perfume and the promise of a new iPhone when we get home. I got Apoorva a few books, some game's he's been wanting, a few CDs and the promise that I will finish the blanket I've been making him. I showed what I've done so far for the first time and he loved it (I swear he had tears in his eyes, I don't think anyone has ever made him something before, they don't really do the whole do-it-yourself thing here).

Here's Apoorva opening his stocking.


I gave him gloves and a hat in his stocking so he's prepared for the cold and snowy weather in Indiana. Here's his Home Alone impression. Still not sure why he decided on this pose...


Here he is with the part of the blanket I have done. I'm pretty proud of it considering I've never knit anything before.

After gifts I made breakfast, which consisted of French toast and Hole-y Toast (also called eggs in a basket). We then proceeded to clean the house and order food for the lunch his parents invited themselves to.

Lunch went ok, besides the fact that I had to work way to hard and be way too stressed out on Christmas. At least Apoorva's nephew was cute while he was opening presents. Although the afternoon ended kinda badly when my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law wanted to use my computer. I hate people using my computer, but what was worse was that since they were using the computer my 3 year old nephew of course wanted to as well. When he was told he couldn't he lashed out wacking the computer several times. I was about ready to freak out, seeing as how I just got my computer fixed after losing everything. But my DH grabed him and wouldn't let him get near it again, even though the kid was screaming bloody murder (he's kind of a terror). At least he was cute while he was opening presents.

Finally they left and we hung out for the rest of the afternoon/evening. We watched Horton Hears a Who. Then I made a phone call to my grandparents, then Skyped with my parents and brother and sister. Since my brother will be back in school when I get home he opened the gifts he bought us. He got us two XBox games and me a pink controller. I'm so excited. I'm going to kick my DH's ass in Mortal Kombat :-)

All in all a good Christmas. Not normal by any means, but ok. Something different that we can laugh about a few years from now.