Feels like Christmas...

Jeff and I knew that this Christmas would feel very different, because we're not going home for the holidays and we live in a place with very few foreigners or Christians. We're actually going to spend Christmas Day at the wedding of a JPAL Policy Associate - our very first Indian wedding! - so that should distract us a bit from missing home and our families. We already celebrated Christmas with my dad when we were in Nepal; he brought a whole bag full of chocolate, dried fruit and American cereal in enormous quantities, gifts from Jeff's family also. 

Of course, anyone who knows me knows that my mother and I are BIG on Christmas. Christmas villages on every surface, all the different varieties of tacky dancing Santas that you can imagine, lights on the house - basically, the works. I was pretty sad that we weren't going to be able to find anything Christmas-themed here in Patna, but my crazy mother took care of that particular problem quite thoroughly.

Jeff and I returned to Patna from our vacation in Nepal to find three enormous boxes waiting for us. One contained presents (for me, Jeff and Lalu). One contained Christmas paraphernalia. And the last contained a 7 foot tall plastic Christmas tree.

After several days of staring at the box in mild shock, Jeff and I decided to decorate the tree this weekend. And despite our initial misgivings, we love it, and the scented pine cones, scented candles, stockings, ornaments and garlands that come with it:

And Mom gave us permission to open one of the presents in advance, which was an instant hit:

It's actually already been a great Christmas for Lalu; my dad brought a dozen different dog toys, including a squeaky boomerang thing that Lalu plays with constantly. Unfortunately, he's always running around with it, so I can never get a photo in focus of him playing with it! Luckiest street dog ever...