I used to wonder what Christmas would be like overseas, away from my family. Well now I don’t have to wonder anymore, because it happened! Turns out it was indeed different from what I am used to, but it also had many similarities.
At 7:30, Mily, Jess, and I made French toast for breakfast – lots of it. Mily made a pretty plate of cut up bananas, strawberries, and pomegranates as toppings. We also had syrup and very melted vanilla ice cream.
At about 8:45, our team (aka our little family of 7) ate breakfast together downstairs in us girls’ very messy room. Unfortunately, we had some sick teamies that couldn’t enjoy the food with us, but they were present, and that’s what matters.
Then we opened presents! It was such a fun time. I have some super awesome and thoughtful teammates that truly made my day with what they gave me. I thought that because we were in India, Christmas wouldn’t feel the same, but it honestly kind of did. It just happened to be on the floor sitting on a bunch of sleeping pads and mats. And our tree happened to be a paper one taped to a book shelf that Mily made the night before. And the members of family that I was surrounded by happened to look a little different.
After that whole shindig, we decorated for the 10:30 Christmas service by taping red, green, and white balloons to the walls. The service consisted of a few games, worship, and a sermon. Jess, Mily, Bailey, and I attempted to teach Sunday school upstairs, but it was mostly spent trying to keep kids in one area by guarding the doors and saying, “sista, sista, come here!” many times. It was a blast. The kids may have been hectic, but they were cute and so loved, which made it a little less stressful.
Christmas lunch was delicious – chicken biryani. It’s basically rice and chicken, but better.
The rest of the day consisted of sitting around, having conversations, making chocolate chip idli cakes, and coloring with pastels.
Christmas dinner was Dominos pizza (thanks to Bailey)! So good.
Later that night, we did worship. Turning off the lights and singing and dancing around with the Lord is such a beautiful, freeing thing. I highly recommend trying it some time.
Even though I spent this Christmas away from my family, I got to facetime them for a solid 5 minutes before they boarded their plane to Florida. So even though I wasn’t with them, I got to be with them for a bit, which was such a blessing.
Christmas here was great. I hope all of your Christmases were great too.
Love you all. God Bless.
Megan
