Wednesday, December 28, 2011

A quiet Christmas

Christmas was quiet this time. With two deaths in the family this year- (I lost my grandma and my husband lost his grandpa) we did not really deck up the halls and sing fa la la la in high spirits. 

But it was exciting and fun to see the city lit up and decorated. In my city it is all about paper stars! Gosh so many kinds. I don't think I have seen so many kinds in the Middle East or in the US where I have lived.I mean people do put up trees and cribs and fairy lights. But the paper star is the signature piece. The most essential element. And You have to see it to believe it. They come in Christmasy colours of gold, red, silver, white, frosty blues and then in some atrocious colours and combinations of those atrocious colours like neon pink, green, blue and orange! :D And the creators get pretty creative with the shapes too. Apparently stars are oblate spheroids(whatever that means!) So its not only the traditional star fish shape, but all kinds of star polygons, rounds stars with spikes and what not!

India - Kerala - 069 - Cochin - Xmas stars for sale 
Photo Credit:mckaysavage

My son was a sheep in his Christmas tableau. :) He had to wear black socks and was wrapped in a nice white towel and I made him a sheep mask. And it is so cute that he has learnt to say say "Amma, Happy Chrisamasa" in his little squeaky voice. And when he claps his hands and sings "Hey Jinga Bay!" 

We spent the day at my husband's ancestral home and how an 83 year old woman (his grandma) who lives alone, cooks an entire Christmas breakfast by herself is still a miracle to me. And how everything is maintained at the perfect temperature ready to be consumed the moment you get there. No microwave, people. Just the desire to be perfect, the methods implemented, years of experience and a box made out of good old thermocol! We just needed to show up on time and eat. Unfortunately, yours truly fell sick eating her own home preparation of shrimp, the previous day (no, I'm not a bad cook, the shrimp was stale?) so could not devour the tasty dishes as much as she wanted to.

But  wouldn't you agree that there is nothing like resting in an ancestral home? Large and airy with its wooden ceilings, and cool red oxide floors, a 100 years old, away from the madding crowd and in a sleepy town where time decides to take its time and slow down. No time does not fly here... it is well mannered and decides to wait till you are done. Done with all the chatting and the eating. Done with the day dreaming and the afternoon potbellied siestas. And when there are enough hands to busy a 2 year old, the mom gets to relax, recuperate and rejuvenate. It was a quiet Christmas alright. But it was perfect!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Who? Me?

Yes! Me!

Deb was sweet enough to think I'm versatile and nominated me for this- 'The versatile blogger award'.  I'm truly honoured. To know that someone wastes time to read what I'm mumbling away... makes me feel special. I'm a new blogger and I think (or I would like to think, that like me) new bloggers spend more time refreshing their stats (and fretting and fuming if the page view count has not turned from 0 to 1) than actually following too many other blogs.. and this nomination allows one to be appreciated and introduces one to other (some very)interesting blogs.

I started out anonymous and then shortened my name from Seena to Cna just so that no one I knew would judge me too soon and laugh at my rants. Then I joined Blogjunta and Indiblogger and realised that one cannot blog alone, one needs to blogalise (my new word for socialising on blogs). Why would anyone want to read you if you don't read them?

And would it be entirely wrong to comment on a poem based on a serious issue with just one word 'Nice'? At that moment I was speechless and the only thing I could say was 'Nice'. And the Blogger did not publish my comment. Maybe he/she thought it was too shallow. And it made me feel silly. Anyways, I now try to take the effort to put in some thought while commenting.:) You learn something new everyday!!

Now before I babble endlessly here are the rules:

1. Nominate 15 Fellow Bloggers
2. Inform the Bloggers of their nomination
3. Share 7 random things about yourself
4. Thank the Blogger who nominated you
5. Add the Versatile Blog Award picture to your blog post

Since I am Leo and Leos are apparently very proud let me annoy everyone with 7 random things about me before I nominate other bloggers.

1. Loves to fall sleep while watching late night TV
2. Can eat multiple bars of Twix without falling sick
3. Can never get over Archies comics
4. Never thought she'd enjoy being a mom so much
5. Cannot enjoy a cold coffee. It has to be hot.
6. Has a persistently pessimistic gene that she is trying hard to mutate
7. Loves looking at photos. Over and over and over.


And here are the picks and in no particular order. (apparently you can nominate the person who nominated you.Phew!) And some are bloggers that I discovered through Deb and will be following as of right now. :D

1. Deb
2. Saru
4. Zradar
5. Shubham 
6. Joshi 
7. Neelam 
8. Sujatha 
9. Surya

Some of you may have already got this award, but to me you sound versatile and very interesting and so even if I have not commented much on your blogs, please accept this award as an appreciation for making my time spent reading worth my while.

Also there are other veteran bloggers who probably got this or similar awards years ago and I don't know if I am going to look silly letting them know that I (who?) think they are versatile bloggers.  So I'll just let you go check them out if you have not already...

10. Judy
11.Dhanya
14. Aarti

Thank you again Deb! 

and here is the image....