I still have Dengue. The gift giving disease that makes my very bones ache and my skin itch. So a Christmas like last year with people coming and going from ten in the morning till eleven at night sounded impossible. I wanted to run away and hide in a hotel. Anything but having wave after wave of families come and serving first hot snacks (to two separate rooms for men and women), then a meal, then chai and sweets that I had slaved over to make just to discover about three of them were really enjoyed.
anything but that again.........
So we gave an invitation to a smaller group of people. We took mittai around to some families and we said come at seven. Seven was the perfect number. It means, come for a meal which is dinner. Do not come earlier. In a neighborhood where most formal invitations implicitly mean come two hours AFTER the written time it can be dicey when people would come but with the weather cold and the need to eat we could be assured most visitors would arrive before 8. My friend said after the last azaan people would begin to come.
So we ate a great breakfast and started cutting up the three pounds of onions, taking out the cleaned 18 pounds of chicken and making chicken, rice and salad plates.
People came and it was good. It felt like Christmas. People who have celebrated with us every year came and people we've never met came. It was a starry night full of surprises and good conversations. I was frantically running between the kitchen, living room, and kid's room with snacks and food for all. Zana and Abe were angels and at around half past eight I locked them in our bedroom where they feel asleep soundly allowing me to not worry about potty breaks in the middle of serving chai. It was the besets Christmas ever!
anything but that again.........
So we gave an invitation to a smaller group of people. We took mittai around to some families and we said come at seven. Seven was the perfect number. It means, come for a meal which is dinner. Do not come earlier. In a neighborhood where most formal invitations implicitly mean come two hours AFTER the written time it can be dicey when people would come but with the weather cold and the need to eat we could be assured most visitors would arrive before 8. My friend said after the last azaan people would begin to come.
So we ate a great breakfast and started cutting up the three pounds of onions, taking out the cleaned 18 pounds of chicken and making chicken, rice and salad plates.
People came and it was good. It felt like Christmas. People who have celebrated with us every year came and people we've never met came. It was a starry night full of surprises and good conversations. I was frantically running between the kitchen, living room, and kid's room with snacks and food for all. Zana and Abe were angels and at around half past eight I locked them in our bedroom where they feel asleep soundly allowing me to not worry about potty breaks in the middle of serving chai. It was the besets Christmas ever!
Zana all dressed up for Christmas!
Us three waiting for guests.
Abe took this photo all by himself.
Posing with a friend's little guy who is about to turn one.
Snacks for the late comers and conversation for all in the living room.
The Hubster actually had time for a photo where as the ladies room
which was chock a block full of women never got a single shot! Oh well.
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