The Year End Spell

Its the dawn of another year and I've calmed down a bit. December always puts me in an excited mood, its like being under a 'year end' spell. I remember being fascinated with Christmas and December in general since I was a little girl. Those days it was all about the holidays, the nicely wrapped gifts and the new clothes. But now with all of us scattered on different parts of the planet, Christmas has really come to mean just two precious words, home and family. It was a blessing to be home with the family and I loved every moment of it, though I fell sick with food poisoning. Even that little bout of sickness turned out to be very interesting with folks touching my forehead nonstop and everybody caring for me in the most amusing way. Antonio and Priyanka were the ones who were around when the fever first started, they toasted the bread and boiled the milk and practically fed me. Vinod came running and kissed me on the forehead to take my temperature, like they do on the 'Everybody Loves Raymond' show. Manoj would cup his hands below my mouth and tell me to vomit in them, all the time making the retching sound himself, this would crack me up... and then he would hurl the imaginary puke on whoever was passing by. Nameeta was all Florence Nightingale like, she would soak a cloth in cold water and apply it on my forehead and neck. Because of my fever, my brother's wedding anniversary and birthday plans were getting spoilt, and nobody was more upset than Priyanka when the party was cancelled. She stalked my fever with a vengeance, every other second I would feel her little hand on my head or neck trying to irritate the fever away.

Anyway coming back to the magic of December, I think it all starts with the caroling season... my sister is rightfully named Carol, cause she was born at the start of the Caroling season (November 30th). I love everything bout Carols, I love the whole story they tell and I love the feeling they create inside you. Real angels must have guided the fingers of those souls who penned the traditional Christmas songs that speak about angels proclaiming the good news, the shepherds searching for the new born child, the star guiding the way for the three kings and the child wrapped in saddling clothes... I also like the Country Christmas songs that speak of home baked cookies and Santa coming in a red pick up truck. Talking of carols, I got to witness a real Von Trapp kinda family in action this Christmas. I was in the train on the 25th of December plying from my secondary home to my primary home and the compartments near mine were occupied by a pretty large family, and imagine my surprise when one of the boys picked out his guitar & suddenly all his brothers and sisters went into a wonderful rendition of 'O Come All Ye Faithful', I was wonder struck. It was so beautiful, and then they went on to sing lots of other carols, I couldn't stop smiling... when they stopped for rest, I asked them to sing 'O Come all Ye Faithful' again and they obliged. They were like real professional too telling each other to sing in base or alto. It was one heck of a train journey.

After reaching home more fun was in store, I had to help in the organizing of the Church

Christmas play. Hanging out with the kids in the play made me realize the necessities of a stun gun, it was that crazy. There was this very very naughty kid named Hrithik who made Calvin seem like a joke, he would hit Mother Mary on the head and she would start crying, this made Joseph double up in laughter which further amused the three wise men who would then throw their gifts at Joseph, Joseph would then chase the wise men with his staff and naturally the shepherds would follow suit kicking as much sand as possible on the angels assembled nearby... it was thoroughly crazy, but entertaining as hell.

To cap it all off, Christmas is huge in my hometown & this lends a magical aura to my place.The whole town glows with stars, the nativity scenes, the Christmas tree and twinkling lights. The air bristles with joy, hope, excitement, laughter, and warm hugs... its pretty enchanting. I love walking in my colony at nights and seeing all the lights and decorations. Here's the Christmas tree and the crib at my home.

Like Gene Kelly sings, 'There's a smile on my face for the whole human race, why, its almost like being in love...'.