The Holidays

I've been in the US almost 12 years, and to be honest, I've never really enjoyed the holiday season much. It's usually a depressing time, with dark evenings and cold nights, no family around, no traditions to follow, and not much to do outdoors.

Over a period of time, I've gotten used to the weather atleast.....infact, I can even say that I quite enjoy wearing my coat and boots and stepping out everyday. I have even tried skiing and snowboarding - I hated skiing but loved snowboarding. I've tried snowmobiling and snowshoeing as well, and I quite enjoy being out in the mountains during this season. Although, given a choice, I would take a flight back home to see my family anyday...and I've done that many times.

This year, however, feels different. It's the first time we have the daughter around during the holidays (last year we were in India and she was only 5 months old) and I feel excited, happy, eager to do things that everyone does during this time. To begin with, we ordered custom stockings for everyone - mine needs to be put up but the rest are up :).

Next on the list was the Christmas tree. I don't like to spend much on things that cannot be used year round, and occupy space in the garage. I'm not much of a consumerist, and lately, I have been going the minimalist route on everything (more on that in another post). So I wanted a Christmas tree, but did not want to spend much....also we could not get a huge one coz the daughter would get to it, and with the lights and ornaments, it would be hazardous. I was discussing this dilemma over lunch with a colleague, and he generously offered me this tree that was lying in his garage. Its PERFECT - it's small, has lights (fiber optic strands) that blink and change colors, and it sits pretty in the corner of our family room. The daughter is smitten - she loves the color "blue" and waits for the lights to turn that color, and also says "blink blink blink" all day. She insists we keep the lights on ALL day, and we gladly oblige :).

We took her for Santa pictures last weekend, and she was extremely cranky when we first got there. So we stepped aside and let her play in the toy area, and she fell in love with the pretend-play kitchen, and was back to her smiling personality :). The red dress gives such an Xmassy feel - I love it :)!

We also took her to the holiday lights show at the Folsom Zoo. We saw Santa (again :)), billions of lights, a bear mascot (who she called "Pooh") and lots of nocturnal cats playing in their pens. A lot of zoo volunteers were around, and were educating us about the animals. A couple cool things that stayed with me:
- How do you know whether the animal is a prey or a predator? It's from the eyes. If it looks straight, its a predator. If it looks sideways, its prey.
- Cougars (or mountain lions) - They have one of the best BMI's of all cats. They are ambush predators, and hunt mainly deer here in California.

Here are a few pictures from our zoo outing:

It's also funny that the daughter calls Santa "Baba". We have taught her a morning ritual of doing jayjay to Sai Baba's picture in our family room, and bowing down to him. She can also say "Sai Baba". Now she thinks any bearded dressed up man is Baba, and Santa perfectly fits this thinking of hers :).

Now coming to the gifts. So far, we've bought many small but useful gifts for the daughter. We have 3 books, a hat+mitten set, a couple wooden puzzle sets, and a toy. She's getting few things from her maasi (aunt) and close friends of ours. Her naani-maa has already shipped her a box full of custom-tailored outfits.....they are so cute, I wish I could wear them :). I know she's spoilt rotten by everyone, but looking at the infinite amount of joy she brings into each of our lives, she deserves all of this, and much more.

Last couple nights, she's been a laughing riot before bedtime. I had tears of joy looking at her - giggling, laughing, giving kisses, doing stunts - just being so content and happy - last night, before she went to bed. Our ritual is - after masti-time, I hug her tight, softly whisper a prayer in her ears, and she falls asleep by the time the prayer is done. I can tell from her breathing how soundly she is asleep. And I only leave once she's into deep sleep, her breathing has settled, and she's at peace, and looks content. I can never get tired of admiring her beauty or simply just gazing at her while she's asleep. Its absolutely my most favorite thing to do. I find it irresistible to not eat her up at that time.

It's only this profound happiness and joy that the daughter brings into our lives is going to make the holidays so special this year. This is our real gift, and our choicest blessing! Everything else is just wrapping paper around it!

Happy Holidays 2011 - from our family to yours :)!