X'mas Xpress Week

 The most precious week in the Advent had finally arrived. The week that most of them were eagerly waiting all year through. The Christmas tree and Stars were up, with the tiny twinkling lights and decorations adorning them. The manger was set-up with baby Jesus yet to be placed in the spot on Christmas night. 

Rich plum cakes were bought from Thom's Cafe, our favorite spot to pick the Christmas cake and goodies. I tried my luck at preparing 2 simple Christmas sweets - the kalkals and fried sweet coconut dumplings called kajurkaya in Malayalam. The kalkals turned out to be a disaster and mess, but we both managed to prepare a good 50 of kajurkayas fried perfectly to golden brown. I was very proud of us when my mom praised the kajurkayas we made. I'm now boosted to try out other Christmas treats in the coming years, as hubby says "I thought the tradition of making Christmas sweets was over. But I'm so happy at your efforts in keeping the tradition alive for the coming generation." This was my first attempt, and I'm positive the next few will turn out to be incredible with practice. 

We played carols all week through, and were completely soaked in the essence of Jesus' coming. We enjoyed every bit of the season through the cleaning of the house, putting up the decorations, shopping, visiting friends and family and sharing our love and hope with one another. This is the most blessed season in the whole world where everyone irrespective of religion, color or creed comes together to celebrate the joy of sharing and giving.

The first times highlights of this season's X'mas were many, a few to list....

• Trying a hand at making sweets all by myself
• Night vigil on Christmas eve at Parish
• No toast of wine and cake at the strike of Christmas crackers since wine was prohibited
• Breakfast and lunch preparation at in-laws place all by ourselves, hubby and I
• Dinner and breakfast at my place after a long night's Antiquity and Wine merriment
• And finally an escape to Munnar to close off the entire week's fun.

And now, as we wait for this year to come to a close in a couple of days, we anxiously wait to see what is in store for us in the new year. A few plans translucently lingering in my mind, a few in his, a few on the board. It is that time of the year to retrospect the our achievements, a time to relentlessly plan to get to those that were missed, a time to lament on our faults, a time to re-invent and re-build relationships, to strengthen our faith in His power to rescue the world from all the wearies and sorrows in the coming year and blossom into bright and beautiful poinsettias.