HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM INDIA!! And honestly, it was a pretty good day!
After receiving the much awaited morning phone call, I went over to the Young’s
house to unwrap presents. My favorite part of the morning was watching everyone
open their presents from me. I love that part of gift giving. And the Youngs were
so sweet and got me a few things as well. Rebecca made me the cutest India
Elephant printed pillow case, and Avery gave me the necklace she found on the
beach in Mamallapuram when we were playing there a month or so ago. Brooklyn
gave me a scarf, Libby gave me a candy bar and Camry gave me Appyfizz and chocolate.
Cohen was SO excited about this present (compliments of Avery)
Finger Football (soccer) was a hit!
Somewhere in the middle of opening presents we stopped to eat a
breakfast casserole that was basically a mix of pancakes, french toast and every other amazing breakfast entree you can think of so more or less it was heaven on a plate.
Once we were finished I went back to the Elephant house to
open my package from Aunt Jen. It was chucked full of goodies, motivational
magnets and quotes on tiles, a gum ball machine, Christmas stockings and
jewelry. I was thinking about it and I don’t think I’ve have received a
personal package before—well one does come to mind. So one. Obviously I've gotten
packages when I have ordered something online, but not any/too many flat out holiday
or thinking of you packages. Packages are fun! I feel so much better about
every package I have ever sent over the years and yet at the same time I now
feel a little bit of guilt for all those packages I thought about but never
actually sent.
I know I have some more packages coming so it was kind of sad that they didn't make it in time for Christmas but since there is nothing I can do about that I am going to look at it as an extension of my Christmas celebrations AND surprises since I have no idea when they will show up. :)
The Youngs came over a little bit later and we set off to
the hostel for our Christmas visit to Poongodi, Elina and Praveenkumar. This is
was what I was most excited about and what ended up being the best part of my Christmas
in India. The kids were so excited and even though she tried to hide it,
Poongodi was too. The pictures speak for themselves, although sadly I don’t
know when I will be able to show them to you due to my Christmas Day low—my
computer completely died as in it is not working anymore. I can turn it on, but
all that comes up is a gray screen and a flashing folder with a question mark
in it. I have been able to use my iPad to look up any possible thing I could do,
but it’s not looking good in terms of being able to fix it. Of course it is
always fun to get a new computer-however this isn’t exactly the most opportune
time for me to do so. We will see I guess. I’m not accepting that reality of it
yet until I exhaust all my possibilities. Merry Christmas right?
**Update** Here they are:
After being sad for a minute, I decided not to let that ruin my day so I got back to
doing what I wanted to do, which included taking a warm shower (this was a Christmas
present I decided to give to myself), reading a good book and taking a nap. As
if that wasn’t good enough, I woke up to cooking: aka making mash potatoes for
Christmas dinner—which was two different soups, rolls and the mashed potatoes.
Not exactly traditional but it was yummy so who cares. Rebecca made everyone
their own little pumpkin pies and we watched “While You Were Sleeping”. I love
that show, but I couldn’t finish it because I had family Facetime dates (which
of course I wasn’t going to miss) and some packing to do.
Packing for Kerala that is. Which was another Christmas
surprise that blew my mind. I had planned to go somewhere over the Christmas
break-I figured that would help me not feel so homesick. It took a bit to
figure it all out-but in the end I planned a trip to Kerala, which is on the
south western side of India. When the
Marriott came to campus for the Christmas program, I was talking with Mr.
Prakash. When he asked me what I was doing for Christmas, I told him I was staying
on campus for a bit and then going southwest for a week or so. He offered to
look into getting me a deal to stay at the Marriott in Kerala. I had already booked
a hostel/Home Stay place for around $15 a night so in my mind I was thinking
that there was probably no deal he could get me at the Marriott that would beat
that but I didn’t want to be rude so I told him I would email him about it. So
I did-and lo and behold he was able to obtain a two night stay at the Marriott
for me FOR FREE!!!! Receiving that news made me one extremely grateful and very
happy girl.
To make a long story short, I hadn’t heard back on some
things about that offer so I was assuming that it wasn’t happening
anymore-which was okay. It would been fun but I am not use to that kind of
treatment so whatever. Imagine my surprise when I got an email about my stay,
and it was for THREE nights in a deluxe room with a king bed and at the actual
Marriott—not just the Marriott Courtyard which I was expecting. All for free
still. I was speechless to say the least. To go from thinking the whole thing was
off to discovering that it was still happening AND was exceeding what I was
told it would be, was unreal! I have no idea how I got to be so lucky but I’ll
take it. Not to sound cheesy or cliché, but I really am so blessed.
