Silver Bells, Silver Bells , Why Is'nt It Christmas Time In My City???

Aaah.... it's christmas time and i don't yet have that familiar buzz of excitement , that high that i normally reach by about 10th december.. i'm hoping another two days' will do the trick 'cos so far...nothing , zilch , zero , nada!

Christmas has always been really really special to me...it's nothing religious at all ,i guess it's just one of those few times in the year when only good things seem to happen , or atleast we all try so hard to keep it that way! We always celebrated christmas at my cousin's place in b'lore...somehow that city seems to have so much more of the christmas spirit that madras does...although i do love madras dearly! Maybe it's 'cos the shops there go all out at christmas time .Commercial Street is abuzz , decorated to the hilt , busy and beautiful . I suppose that in itself lends to a general feeling of celebration.

I suspect however that the most important thing is, the fact that my dad's entire family pretty much comes down to b'lore every christmas and all of us get together , like 30 of us...(i have a huge family) over 24th and 25th , each person promising themselves that they would'nt squabble with anyone until atleast it's 26th and christmas is over!!
So , i'm used to being surrounded by aunts , uncles , cousins , neices and nephews and doing the same old thing every year.

A ritual that was so comforting by it's unchanging nature. Ofcourse , this year all that has changed , my only sibling , an 18-yr old brat of a brother has gone off to college and does'nt get off for christmas so we are'nt going to b'lore at all...

Damn it all! No spending ages and ages shopping for decorations on commercial street last minute , No fooling around trying to decorate our rather over-grown christmas tree with atleast 10 other people ranging from 8-28 yrs in age , No arguing over who gets to put up the star , No pushing , shoving , breaking glass bulbs that belong on the tree not in bits on the floor , NO SHOPPING FOR CLOTHES with my cousins!!!!

I feel exceedingly nostalgic , I can picture all the fun I had taking ages to get dressed to go to church on christmas-eve at night...the one night i shed my don't-care attitude for a please-let-me-look-respectable one.. Buying presents for my cousins and everyone..Going to church on 24th night...seeing everyone so wonderfully dressed. All the boys I knew , seem to have grown up, in their suits they look absolutely handsome !

Oh god...i'm actually managing to sound wistful...well i'm sure gonna miss all of it..I always knew it would happen eventually but now it kills me that i'm no longer gonna be part of that tradition!

Well, since i've rambled a lot about my christmas i might as well complete the picture... Carols...there would be not much of a christmas without them... Jim Reeves and his baritone that's what really makes me feel it's christmas. My cousins and assorted relations singing in all manner of voices , most out of key , glasses of wine and whisky in hand , late 24th night , after church , seated in a room far too small to hold the 30 or so of us... ofcourse we usually start with carols and by the end of the session end up singing konkani love songs...lol.. the second part of which ,though , my contribution is pretty minimal...except as an enthusiastic spectator.

Wine...although i don't have much...flows...lol.. pretty much the entire time and we have a party 25th night...Christmas day lunch is the product of much planning and atleast two days of preparation. Plum Cake and Christmas Pudding ! Not gonna even try and describe the awesome rum-filled taste of that... although i don't drink much i'm sure that just the amount of rum i consume by eating my aunt's cake should be enough to get me high..(meaning that there is a lot of rum..not just that i eat lots of cake..lol)

Oh well I think I had better stop lest i sound like a sentimental sop....but the memories are so fond ...that it's hard.. hopefully christmas in madras won't be quite as disappointing as i envision. Infact i'm sort of picturing the worst , so hopfully it'll turn out slightly better...

Well , Merry Christmas Everyone...(slightly early , i realise..but not by all that much..)