top of page
Writer's picturePreeti Saldanha

Christmas Day

I feel like I always spend so much time waiting for Christmas and then it comes and goes in a flash. As my grandma says though all the excitement is in the anticipation of it.


Nisha, Vernon, and kids joined us for breakfast at my grandma’s place before heading out to 10 am Christmas mass. I thought I could wear my green Indian gown to mass but my grandma insisted that would be too fancy. At mass my dad’s cousin Virginia came up to me asking if I was Alex’s daughter saying she recognized my eyes. We snapped a photo together to send to my dad.



Christmas lunch was hosted by Maria in Mazagon and she had also invited Nisha’s family to join. It was nice to have a family get together for Christmas and have everyone in the same space. Val was there, Linda & Trevor’s family, Maria’s family, and then Nisha’s family plus grandma and I. There were a total of 18 people which is smaller than family gatherings have been in the past but it is hard to get everyone together now that people have moved away. Sonali also had two of her cousins Johnathan and Matali there as well. I facetimed my family to wish them and so that they could say hi to everyone as well. Lunch was potluck style with everyone bringing a dish to share and was pretty good. My favorite dish was the huge tiger prawns that Nisha made! I had never seen prawns that big before! I was feeling a migraine coming on so I took it easy and just enjoyed conversing with my cousins. We headed home quite soon after everyone had eaten since we wanted to rest before the big Christmas dance in the night.



Everyone was in various states of disaster come time for the Christmas ball. Rachel and I were both so nauseous and Ryan was jetlagged. We had also gone out 2 nights prior to various people’s houses so it was going to be yet another late night. I laid down for several hours to fight the migraine but ended up texting Clayton instead for hours debating whether or not I was going to make the Christmas ball. The ball started at 8pm but by 9pm I was still in bed deciding whether or not to attend with my migraine. Ultimately, my lehenga motivated me to get out of my bed and get ready. I downed some caffeine, ate some ice cream, and took some Advil to survive the night. Of course we had to do a photoshoot when we were all dressed up! Everyone looked so glam, especially my grandma!



The Christmas ball was an unforgettable night especially since we don’t have dances like this in the U.S. We showed up at 11:15 pm but the night was still young. I was warned that I would be the only one dressed in Indian attire and it was true, but Aunty P loves her Indian outfits! I had so much fun dancing with all of my cousins! Sonali takes her dancing very seriously so I attempted to keep up with her unsuccessfully. At one point her and Daniel were dancing with me in the middle. Most of all I loved dancing with my grandma who was on the floor until 2:30am! I thoroughly enjoyed myself and belted my heart out to all of the pop songs I knew. If I didn’t know the song I would make a joke that I was too young to have been alive when the song came out. I should make a list of iconic songs they always play at Indian functions such as the Chicken Dance and YMCA. The cops showed up multiple times to shut down the party but everytime they were bribed and left while the party resumed with the music turned down a notch. At one stretch the music stopped for like 20 minutes but then it was back on and the party resumed. Sonali, Daniel, and I ended up staying until 3:40 am which is the latest I have ever danced! I had so much fun and am very glad I went.



17 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Commenti


bottom of page