I hope each one of you had a fantastic Christmas and New Year celebrations and we sure have greeted the New Year with lots of hopes and aspirations.
Each year when I celebrate these festivities my mind goes back to my past days when I used to celebrate with family and friends. Those were the days!!!
I wish to share with everyone some key things those were the highlights of my Christmas and New Year during those yesteryears.
Holy Mass: Back home in India we have midnight mass for Christmas and New Year. The church would be beautifully decorated and would be full of people both young and old. The mass would end at about midnight. We would then wish each other and cherish the sliced cake that would be distributed by the church on these occasions. Bursting of crackers would herald the onset of the celebrations.
Church Celebrations: Christmas and New Year means a lot of celebrations at the Church. Different weekends would be reserved for celebrations of different kinds. The Sunday school kids, women’s movement, youth movement etc would form one group. There would be another big celebration on the following weekend wherein churches from different denominations would participate. There would be beautiful songs by the choir, sermons, some stage performances etc. The true spirit of Christmas reflects in these celebrations. One of the main attractions, especially with the kids, would be the arrival of Santa Claus. Santa would distribute sweets and the kids would go crazy.
Celebrations at home: Variety of foods, guests, decorations etc would be the highlights of the home celebrations. This is the season for near and dear ones to come together and celebrate together. When the Christmas Carol band would arrive at our home it would create a lot of excitement especially with our non Christian neighbors. All and all it’s a wonderful season to be back home.
Christmas and New Year is the time to be thankful and joyful for all the blessings throughout the year and to be with our near and dear ones. I am looking forward to more such Christmas and New Year celebrations in the future.
Wishing you and your family a Happy and Prosperous 2009!!!
