MERRY CHRISTMAS BLOGOSPHERE! Christmas day is coming to a close here in India and I have to say that I have never ever had a Christmas as unique as this one. I already recapped the events of Christmas Eve and I was planning on just adding a little onto that post today....but I quickly realized as the day progressed that Christmas Day warranted a whole post just for itself.
We started the day off bright and early: leaving the campus at 7:30am to get to church in Chennai by 9am. They recently opened the first LDS church building in Chennai and it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! They had a Christmas tree and nativity scene in the lobby and it was such a privilege to have Christmas Sunday in the gorgeous new chapel.
Because today was Christmas day, church only lasted for an hour. My original plan was to go with Jim and Pam and their granddaughter/grandson-in-law to the Marriott and have brunch, but as Venilla and Vadevu were talking about their possible plans, I made the decision to switch it up and go with them. I haven't spent a ton of time with the live-in staff the last few days so I wanted to spend some of my Christmas with them. Going with them also guaranteed that I would have a very Indian Christmas experience.
Our first stop after church was to go shopping at T. Nagar--a GINORMOUS shopping district in Chennai. It's where you get the best prices and can get any possible thing you need all on one street. The thing with T. Nagar is that it's always swarming with wall to wall people and it's a shopping district geared towards locals, not tourists...which means little to no English is spoken by the shop owners and you are expected to know how to check-out, the random store rules, etc. I have been to T. Nagar twice before this (one of those times is a whole other story in itself) and after those two trips it was decided that T. Nagar would be best tackled if you had a local along to help you....which brings me to today. I had the awesome opportunity to go shopping at T. Nagar with not 1 but 7 locals! Vadevu, Venilla, Stephen, Michael, Dr. Sugunya, Shankar, Sujatha, and I had a marvelous time shopping and browsing and just enjoying the beautiful Christmas day. We were all able to get things that we have been needing/wanting so it was kinda like we were all our own Santa Claus :) Shopping on Christmas day in a legit Indian bazaar with 7 amazing people?.....that equals up to a pretty good Christmas if you ask me.
After our shopping excursion, we started heading out of town back towards Rising Star. Before we left Chennai, though, we stopped at a nice restaurant for a little Christmas lunch/feast. Jim had given Vadevu some money to take everyone to lunch after church, so because Jim was buying....everyone went all out. As we ordered, people would randomly keep adding things to the ticket (I swear each person ordered at least five things). Our table was packed to bursting with all the rices and sauces and chicken and fish: I think it's the most food I've ever seen at any one meal. All the food was delicious (although very, very spicy--my mouth was on fire) and by the time we were paying the bill, we were all slipping into food comas.
From the feast we headed back to Rising Star. To round-off the night, Lyndsey and I had decided the day before to have a Christmas movie double feature. We settled in the Green House and tucked into some leftovers from our Christmas Eve dinner while watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Love Actually. Lyndsey brought her two kittens over and they snuggled on the couches with us as we all basked in Christmas movie greatness.
I was worried at the start of this week that I would be very lonely and depressed this Christmas, being away from home. I am happy to say, though, that it turned out to be just the opposite. I was surrounded by love, and happiness and Christmas cheer and you really can't ask for anything more when you're spending Christmas on the opposite side of the world from your family. :)
Vanakkam
We started the day off bright and early: leaving the campus at 7:30am to get to church in Chennai by 9am. They recently opened the first LDS church building in Chennai and it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! They had a Christmas tree and nativity scene in the lobby and it was such a privilege to have Christmas Sunday in the gorgeous new chapel.
In my "Christmas Dress" ready to take on the day--I couldn't have handled wearing a sari all day long, hence the chuddidhar.
Awesome Nativity in the lobby of the church
With Katie, Craig, Pam and Jim after Sacrament meeting in the church lobby
Because today was Christmas day, church only lasted for an hour. My original plan was to go with Jim and Pam and their granddaughter/grandson-in-law to the Marriott and have brunch, but as Venilla and Vadevu were talking about their possible plans, I made the decision to switch it up and go with them. I haven't spent a ton of time with the live-in staff the last few days so I wanted to spend some of my Christmas with them. Going with them also guaranteed that I would have a very Indian Christmas experience.
Our first stop after church was to go shopping at T. Nagar--a GINORMOUS shopping district in Chennai. It's where you get the best prices and can get any possible thing you need all on one street. The thing with T. Nagar is that it's always swarming with wall to wall people and it's a shopping district geared towards locals, not tourists...which means little to no English is spoken by the shop owners and you are expected to know how to check-out, the random store rules, etc. I have been to T. Nagar twice before this (one of those times is a whole other story in itself) and after those two trips it was decided that T. Nagar would be best tackled if you had a local along to help you....which brings me to today. I had the awesome opportunity to go shopping at T. Nagar with not 1 but 7 locals! Vadevu, Venilla, Stephen, Michael, Dr. Sugunya, Shankar, Sujatha, and I had a marvelous time shopping and browsing and just enjoying the beautiful Christmas day. We were all able to get things that we have been needing/wanting so it was kinda like we were all our own Santa Claus :) Shopping on Christmas day in a legit Indian bazaar with 7 amazing people?.....that equals up to a pretty good Christmas if you ask me.
The shopping Mecca that is T. Nagar
This is just a small scale of what every store is like--merchandise EVERYWHERE
After our shopping excursion, we started heading out of town back towards Rising Star. Before we left Chennai, though, we stopped at a nice restaurant for a little Christmas lunch/feast. Jim had given Vadevu some money to take everyone to lunch after church, so because Jim was buying....everyone went all out. As we ordered, people would randomly keep adding things to the ticket (I swear each person ordered at least five things). Our table was packed to bursting with all the rices and sauces and chicken and fish: I think it's the most food I've ever seen at any one meal. All the food was delicious (although very, very spicy--my mouth was on fire) and by the time we were paying the bill, we were all slipping into food comas.
This picture gives a scope of the amount of food we ordered...this is only the first batch. I tried to take a picture with everyone when the food first came out, but the food proved to be more enticing for most.
Photo Try #2: The whole gang after the Christmas feast
From the feast we headed back to Rising Star. To round-off the night, Lyndsey and I had decided the day before to have a Christmas movie double feature. We settled in the Green House and tucked into some leftovers from our Christmas Eve dinner while watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Love Actually. Lyndsey brought her two kittens over and they snuggled on the couches with us as we all basked in Christmas movie greatness.
Vanakkam
I'm so happy your Christmas was filled with love and that you are so happy in India! We missed you that's for sure! Just wasn't quite the same this season without you! And, FYI, Dad and I were STILL wrapping presents this morning for 3 hours! The boys had to wait for us at the top of the stairs while we feverishly tried to finish wrapping!! Where's Kenady our Christmas wrapping elf??:)
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