So, Chandigarh family, you are about to meet some of our Canadian family!
We did get busy and decorate our house for the Christmas season--although it wasn't as colourful as the houses in Chandigarh for Diwali!
The holiday season is about family and friends for us. The young members were invited to a cookie decorating party before Christmas. This is our granddaughter, Mira, visiting from Reno, Nevada.
The party was hosted by my nephew and his wife. The boys also love to decorate--although they eat more candies than anything else.
Oliver and Henry are two of my nephew's sons, and our grandson from Reno, Tarik, cannot believe there are so many candies to choose from.
Great Grandma, GG as she is called, loves to just sit and watch her family. She had her 94th birthday when we were in Chandigarh.
My niece, Christine, has two children, Kai and Elisa.
We are fortunate that our family gatherings span four generations.
The house was filled with little ones, noise and toys! The little boys were thrilled with the little plastic tuk tuks we brought for them. That is something they don't see in Canada.
Left to right - my niece Taya with Noah and Tatum, our daughter Blair with Indigo (Indi) and Tarik, and Henry.
And here is a better view of Indi riding high atop my nephew Soren's shoulders.
Christmas morning at our house -
Santa has obviously been here with gifts for all eleven people who spent the night with us.
You must understand that Christmas morning starts at 5 am at our house! That is not so much because the young children are excited but the older ones (like my sister and daughter) have a tradition that they must stick to year after year.
Very soon, everyone in the house is awake including GG, son-in-law Deven, sister Gwen, Blair and Tarik.
Tarik, age 3, got his very own pool cue! That is so he can challenge the big boys to a game should he ever visit UFV Chandigarh.
Santa had a particularly good sense of humour this year and gave everyone moustache glasses.
Tarik kind of looked like Sammy Davis Jr. in his.
There is a lot of mess and chaos for a couple of hours as gifts are opened and toys are examined.
Indi was very proud of her new outfit from Mall Road in Shimla--and her bangles.
These were perfect Christmas Day outfits. Mira's suit from BIBA (from Alpha One in Amritsar, Simlee will remember) looked elegant, and my special little Maharaja even agreed to wear his gift from Shimla.
And Dilmeet will remember shopping for this during our great trip to Janpath Market in Delhi.
From left - sister Eleanor and husband Peter, sister Gwen, George-Ji, Blair, brother Monty and wife Nancy (but you can only see her kurta--from Sector 22 market, of course.)
It was a BIG table and at the other end were Mira, Indi, Deven, Tarik and GG.
George proposed a toast--but what is that funny hat he is wearing???
Our tradition is to have Christmas crackers (not firecrackers) but paper crackers that pull apart. Inside is a little gift and a paper hat.
Sometimes, we forget to take the hats off!
Blair, too, is wearing a BIBA top from India. What a great place it was to do my Christmas shopping!
And, that is her Uncle Monty, my younger brother.
Oh yes, I was there, too. And I do love to hug my little grandson!
One thing that Tarik loves to do with his Grandpa is to go skating. (His Grandpa, you know, was quite a good hockey player in his younger days!)
So, a couple of days after Christmas, the two were getting ready to go off to the rink. Tarik was quite intrigued by the shaving procedure.
It isn't cold enough to have outdoor skating rinks in Abbotsford, but at the Abbotsford Recreation Centre there is an area that looks like an outdoor pond--but it is inside.
Mira is getting quite good on skates. In Reno, there is no ice arena so the kids have to learn to skate when they come to Canada.
Indi and I were just spectators but I am sure that she will want to try it next year when she is two.
Our Reno kids were with us for just one week.
We celebrated New Years Eve very quietly at home with some family and friends.
This is my sister, Judy, and her husband Soren. They are the parents of my nephew Soren who had Indi up on his shoulders.
And my sister, Gail, and her husband Yosh.
(Believe it or not, you haven't met all of the family.)
These are our friends, Marg and Brian. They were at Vancouver Airport to greet us when we arrived back in Canada and they are also our curling partners.
Curling, of course, is that strange game in which you throw rocks down the ice and sweep them with a broom.
GG also spent New Years with us and on January 1, we had a beautiful, cool but sunny day.
So, we all went for a long walk around our neighbourhood, a good way to welcome 2013!
As the sun sets on beautiful Mt. Baker, so it sets on this blog.
George is teaching two course at the UFV campus here, BUS 321 (Mandeep Dhillon is in the class) and BUS 120. He has to drive himself to school! No one carries his books, helps him set up his computer, or brings him tea and coffee!
Ahh, memories of good times!
A new blog will likely appear at some time but in the meantime, see you on Facebook!
