Yes Kapu there is a Santa Claus
I am back after such a long hiatus. But it is the season and those who read my posts regularly know that I sure love this time of the year and all the little joys that surround it. I often get asked if I celebrate christmas. How do I answer that? Or rather, where should I begin answering that? Growing up in India, we celebrated all holidays of every religion, be it the gazillion hindu holidays of my ancestral religion or Id and Muhharam or Christmas. My mom told us many stories of "Father Christmas". After moving to America and the wonderful midwest, the holidays focussed around the judeo-christian prominence of this country. When the university town of my alma mater emptied out of all the "american" students this time of the year, we often laughed that what/who stayed back were Indians, Chinese, Cats and Dogs. We couldn't afford to go home so we celebrated in what we we could. We lit up our apartments, got fake christmas trees (the ones we could afford), put $ store tinsel on it and became merry.Fast forward twentyfive years and I now reside in a town where there is no shortage of hindu holiday celebrations, and while I do celebrate them what still gets me excited is Christmas. My celebratory roots in this country revolve around a tree, cookies and stories of friends getting together (mostly those who could not afford to go home).Of the many traditions we follow in our family, a visit to NYC to catch the window displays and be jostled in the Rockefeller crowd completes our holiday. This year we could not make it until Christmas day itself. So instead of the Movie and Chinese food, we did Windows and Chinese Food.This years theme at Macys was based on Intergalactic with a wonderful display of the planets, Lord and Taylor took you on a literary journey of the classics, Saks brought the magic of disney heroines and my favorite Barneys was a pure mesmeric display of Baz Lurhman. Here are some images from Christmas 2014. Have a Happy Holiday Season and a Wonderful New Year!