Since my family lives out of state, every year we travel to see my side of the family for the holidays. It’s always such a joyous time and the kids get super excited to spend time with their cousins. Growing up, we did not really “celebrate” Christmas so my sister got a beautiful tree this year, her first one! She did the cutest thing, which was to buy an ornament that represents each one of us! How sweet right?
Our festivities started the night of Christmas Eve. Before our activities began, we all dressed up in matching santa pajamas. Super cute! We started off the night by having an amazing family meal together. My sister made 3 types of pasta with the delicious side of mashed potatoes. Afterward, we baked a surprisingly yummy batch of gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, whilst dancing to Christmas songs. Around the end of the night, all the kids set up some cookies, a couple of carrots, and a glass of milk for Santa and his reindeers. The rest of the adults and my nieces stayed up to watch the movie, Doctor G, which is a Bollywood movie on Netflix. I would rate it 8 out of 10.
The next morning, we got up super bright and early. Armaan and Amaya found our elf-on-the-shelf, Mr. Chotu, and said their goodbyes to him. Once everyone sat on the couch, the process of gift unwrapping started. The mess was well… predictable. Later, Amaya planned a party for her doll “Mila” she received on Christmas in 2020. She hung up decorations and my oldest niece created a small “Happy Birthday” banner. We opened small presents, as well as ate cupcakes for dessert. She is the youngest on my side, so we def give into her cute little antics. It’ll be memories to share with her when she is older.
Flashing forward to the night of Christmas, when we had a fancy Christmas feast. Everyone dressed up in their classy, holiday outfits. Definitely a first for our family. We also decorated the table RushMeHome style. We served a variety of Indian dishes such as Pakoras, Mutter Paneer, Naan, Jira Rice, and of course dessert. We shared childhood stories and laughed along with tantrums thrown in from the littles. It was such a great time! We didn’t always spend Christmas like this, so I felt very grateful to have this time with my side of the family. I’m sharing a few pictures from the dinner. I mean how cute do my parents look? I hope you all had a wonderful time this year with your loved ones, however you celebrated. Merry Christmas from my family and I to yours!
xx Rashmi
