Christmas Day

Dear Families and Friends

It's Boxing Day evening here in India.

Christmas Day really began with our final performance of the Christmas Play that the volunteers put on each year. This year it was a comparison of the events leading up to Jesus' birth and and the visit of the Magi with Mother Teresa's divine invitation to start the Missionaries of Charity Order and how she overcame some of the early obstacles that were put in her way. Lots of us were involved in the play or the choir and we performed at Prem Dan, for the Carmelites and finally at Mother House on Christmas eve for the Sisters and all the volunteers.

It was business as usual on Christmas morning and we all headed to our homes for work. Each home put on a different celebration for Christmas including mass during the morning. At Prem Dan, lunch was put on for volunteers and the patients. Everyone was dressed in gold and blue and special effort had been taken with hair and appearance including sparkly bangles. At Kalighat, the women were in blue dresses and instead of zip up fleeces, it was shawls. The men were dressed in orange and blue and had bright red blankets. At Daya Dan, we started with mass and then we continued to have a small party downstairs with cake and juice and small presents for the children - it was lovely.

Once work was over for the day, we had the afternoon free. We met at 5pm on the terrace with everyone in their fancy and finest dress. Santa also made an appearance and delivered a present to each of us! The gitls looked good in their saris and the men wore an array of new dress shirts ranging from classic Indian to coloured numbers from the market. We went to a christmas celebration at the Fair Lawn Hotel which began with the Sallies and Christmas Carols. We had a magic show with Caleb, Sophie, Fraser and John dancing.

This was followed by a very boisterous dinner. The tables were laden with blowers, horns, clackers, drums - you name it, anything that could make a noise. The boys performed a haka after dinner.

Dinner was:

Tomato soup and breadsticks.
Fish meuniere, chips and grapes (!) and fresh peas
Cold turkey and ham, stuffing, beetroot, creamed cauliflower
Plum pudding and cream and mince pies and custard.

It was a different Christmas being away from home. But no less entertaining or joyous. Everyone enjoyed the gifts, the food and the occasion.

We hope you all had as merry a Christmas as we did.

John Strang