Diwali Lights

This time I didn't do too much. Just the bare minimal.
The kids were not so scared of the crackers. Tejas handled the sparklers well. But Ojas was tentative. He fell over a candle too, thankfully he fell in such a way that the candle came between his legs.

Meanwhile, some kids in the building were following the green diwali. So they did not light crackers. Which to my mind is a very welcome initiative.

Terracotta lamp- new release this Diwali- one that I have been wanting for a long time

The Gharaunda

Lazy/ Safe way of lighting sparklers- Line up the sparklers in the soil and light them up and watch them sparkle

Floating lamps in urli of flowers

Lanterns

Floating lamps again

Sent from my Nokia phone

Of Christmas and other parties

Truly, a Christmas month.

This time, the husband was deputed to put up the tree- the idea being to do it with the kids.

But he did it in the silence of the night and the next morning, I woke up to the "lovely" surprise.

My tree was shoved inside my prized flower vase which houses my prized glass flowers. The string lights were set and connected. Of course the husband wouldn't dream of looking for the base of the tree in the ornament box, and he couldn't deign to ask me. He claimed this was innovation and I couldn't bring myself to agree to that sentiment and promptly set up the tree, the right way this time.

We first celebrated Christmas with the little Donut.

The tree was piled with gifts and all- Ben 10 toys, tiny pajamas, chips, lollypops, gems.

The second level was with the neighbours. We had a Christmas party at my home and the tree was loaded with gifts for all children and even adults who came over.

The kids got cute christmas activity books - customised from the internet and a cool glow in the dark sticks from Aunty S, Jenga bricks, Uno cards and assorted stationery from aunty R and chocolates from aunty V.

We called a cook who effortlessly served us seemingly unlimited snacks from my kitchen. It was such a luxury, one could easily get used to it in a couple of hours. Imagine having a trained cook at your disposal!

The third was the Mad one coming over. Suffice to say, the highlight was that the kids bonded well, the brat said my parathas are very soft (probably the reason being that his mother was there helping me with the parathas!), the OA loved the chicken curry- even though the husband said that he must have been drunk to be able to praise your cooking and the kids were caught discussing with each other after they left-

Tejas, did you like the bean?

The rest like how we chatted late into the night is expected, so too insignificant to be brought up in this post.

We rather I loved the lovely illustrated Christmas book that the kids gave my kids!

The fourth was the boo coming over with the kids. Antu is a mass of curls, totally a doll and Ashu is the elder one to the boot. You can catch her giving the look at her Mom when Antu does something silly!

So evident is the mom & daughter bonding that I had to touch wood to prevent the jealous vein that was showing up in me from casting evil eyes! And I forgot to take the all important photographs.

Before she came, I was telling the kids about Switzerland- the snow peaked mountains and the chocolates. So they were waiting patiently for the chocolates that boo would bring! And they were not disappointed!

Happy Diwali!

A warm and bright welcome Floating lamps and lantern lampsFlower rangoli done by the kids on the floor and in and urli (no pictures of the urli grrr husband)The boundary to my garden- bright with floating diyas, lantern lamps and a row of electric diyas- neighbours came specifically to look at the diyas that were lit inspite of the wind

The view from outside

A closer look at the lamps

And we did the puja in the wooden gharaunda- a tiny house model that I purchased from Calcutta- decor courtsey kids

And we offered money to Goddess Laxmi so that she multiplies them manyfold

Then we burst crackers- all of us wanted to do flower pot - nobody liked the chakra as it belongs to Big Krishna not Little Krishna So we just stood buy as the adults burst bombs

and lit the sparklers

Golu This Year

Has been a different experience in many ways
- the kids have actually sung songs in various homes in front of the golu without much pestering.
- they have, with full expectation asked the hosts- what is the gift you are giving me- even mentioning that - I want paint.
- they have gently played with the decor without scattering them or attempting to damage them unlike the previous years

A few days short of the Big 5, I am marvelling at how things have changed in a matter of the last few months- a growth spurt taking place in front of my very own eyes.

They can do a number of things on their own without my over supervision.
I wouldn't have ever imagined that I would let them play unsupervised in the complex- albeit for short periods, with me rushing out every 15-20 minutes to check on them.
Or that they would set the bed for us neatly, refusing help because- that would be a "gift" for us

Even though they cannot wash their backside yet- which is totally my fault - my cleanliness OCD is holding me back, they can take a neat bath on their own and emerge from their room fully dressed as if it is the most natural thing to do for them! Where are those naked babies running all over the place demanding to be dressed?

They do not wet the bed any more. Touch Wood. But I am still protecting the bed with the rubber sheet because I haven't yet seen them wake up in the middle of the night and use the bathroom. The day that happens, the rubber sheet can safely go out of the window. Or do I dare to remove it now itself?

They keep each other busy, chattering non stop, doing activity books/ painting together and at the same time have separate set of friends in the complex- at one time I was lamenting that they do not make friends and now I am worried why they go separate ways thereby setting me on the run everytime I come out of the house to look for them because invariably they are in opposite corners of the building.

The boys are growing up aren't they? The maintenance factor has come down despite my misgivings.

How Was Your Holi?

Mine had all the ingredients that make up a fun filled day.
We started on Sunday itself as Monday was to be kept free for other things
Starting with a flower shaped rangoli made from abeer with the kids joining in especially after reading the book "rangoli" (pics cannot be uploaded- long story)
I made delicacies (if I am permitted to call them so) - malpua, daal filled parathas, mutton chukka masala (my version)
On the Holi day we wore new clothes, went to watch My Name is Khan and came back just in time to get ourselves drenched in the wet holi game the kids were playing- mind it- voluntarily! Madness no?
We bought colourful pichkaris and a bucket of colored water and hence suitably armed went to join the kids playing. I had to do a lot of preparatory work with the kids to ensure they dont wail when someone colors them. They were extremely enthu about the concept as they thought it was something to do with painting. I showed them the news and a few odd coloured people on the road to tell them what Holi "coloring" means but since they had their artillery (the pichkaris) hey were prepared to face the music errr art!
We oiled ourselves, wore the dirtiest possible clothes and bravely walked out to seek our 5 minutes of pleasure as the evening was getting cooler and I was not in a mood to risk anything for the sake of fun yet wanted them to start experiencing the concept of throwing colored water on each other for the sake of understanding our tradition (errr doesn't it sound good enough from a reasoning point of view?)
So being a 4 pair of 4 year olds accompanied by their Mamma has its advantages- Kids take permission before drenching you and then they dont mind being drenched with pichkari by you since its doesn't matter- they are already drenched and plus they are not competing with you. In that 5-7 minutes the kids emptied their half filled bucket, got someone to refill it for them, fought with Mamma who attempted to help them fill pichkaris and aim at others, bitched about another girl who poured a mug full of water on them and generally created a ruckus when someone borrowed their pichkari and bucket.
We quickly came home to a hot bath and a longing of wanting to play more and sat down to watch chota bheem which incidentally had an episode on Holi running so it reinforced the concept that I was so desperate to teach them!

Things Have Been Silent

as all my earth shattering posts were in the camera and not downloaded.
Research says that Mid Jan is the most depressing period of the year as the holiday and festival season is over
So I spread some festive cheer by updating my overdue Christmas post

Christmas was a "treeat"
This was the tree with the treats under it
Plenty of cakes and homemade brownies to treat our selves withAt school there was a stage program where the boys were the kings (before you ask- they didn't have to really do anything)And they sampled their first "cloud cand there

Kartik Deepam

Celebrated on Kartik Purnima day the significance of the festival is triumph of good over evil (as always)
I came to know of this festival only after I got married, rather only when I got married as a colleague mentioned that she is finding it difficult to attend my marriage as it is Kartik Deepam day!
"So Happy Anniversary" to us by the way! We had chosen to get married on full moon night at a club resort on the beach side... you get the drift!
So this Deepam was made special as I took extra effort rather than just lighting a single lamp in the puja.

White flowers is my current favourite so decorated the urli with white "chandni" flowers (to fit the theme!) and a sprinkling of pink roses and floated diyas in the water

The Diwali lamps were re-used by placing candle bits broken from the larger candle. This is by the way made by a self-help group in Chennai- Mallika Ramesh- 9444682283. A very soft spoken couple - the lady hardly talks but her husband was surprisingly talking impeccable English and knew a lot of other languages. They make a variety of wax filled candles which we ordered from them for gifting to our regional team in the recent workshop- works out for hardly 50 bucks depending on the size and numbers.Fruits & gulabjamun were duly offeredAnd the pujeris posed for a photograph for the records. Meanwhile a side show was on while I was doing the puja

O- Girl does not do puja (since Dadda is the one who does the daily puja)

T- no, girl can also do puja . See girl is driving car naa?

Happy Diwali

The mood was a little too buoyant this diwali. I was a little over excited this time and prepared well in advance - buying lights, lamps, clothes, making plans & lists. More so because we became parents on Diwali morning! Which is why make a little extra effort on Diwali and try to make it a little more special.

So this time we lit up 3 windows using serial lights - our bedroom

and the living room

and even that did not seem enough.

I made (semi-disaster) gulabjamuns (no pics that's why) & easy laddoos, nimki, kadhi (another first), paneer, among other things- over a period of last few days. The sofas had already got a makeover And we put new bedspreads too to add to the festive feel- a traditional applique one in the bedroom and a festive orange in the other room.

We did the flower rangoli for the first time- using marigold and jasmine. The marigold on the ends of the star are the kids' idea. They enthusiasticaly did the flower decor along with me.

The highlight of the day was the gharaunda. A cardboard home on which we would do the Laxmi puja. Ojas & Tejas were most excited about this part. They were peeping through the door like an oversized Alice in the rabbit's home! And pushing their arm through the tiny windows. They decorated the house with animals and cars - do not miss the spider on the window, monkeys on the tree behind, aiming for the banana on the terrace and the fish pond in pink with their plastic fish towards the side!

(Offcourse after arranging all this I went for a nap inside the room and the kids pushed the entire setting in the room and began playing with the toys and the house), apart from eating the lava -mudhi even before the puja- from lunch itself.

We did the Ganesh- Laxmi puja & the Tulsi puja wearing our Diwali finery and then lit the lamps, apart from attacking with renewed energy on the lava (Tejas) & Mudhi (Ojas).

Check my floating candles

Matka lamps painted in a red bandhni print

Lamp & Lanterns

Lamp on a metal frame (courtsey sis) Lamps on the flower decor

Candles
Lamp on stick & cloth frames & the hanging terracota lamp on the side
A bit of cracker ….the fingers never really came off the ears…