Merry INDIAN Christmas!!!

Since the time difference between India and California is about 13 hours, jet lag is going to affect us. We both got really tired at about 7:30 pm and then woke up around 2 or 3. I haven’t woken up this early on Christmas morning since I was like 8, but for different reasons this time. All the presents got wrapped last night so Drake and I were put in charge of hanging the stocking, which were actually santa hats, and blowing up a bunch of red and white balloons before the kids from the orphanage arrived.
There are 23 kids, 15 girls and 8 boys, ranging in age from 6 to 15. Last time Drake was here he met them, but this will be my first time meeting them. So they show up and they were all super sweet and polite. They all came up to me and shook my hand, introduced themselves, and wished me a merry Christmas. Then the temptation of playing with the many many balloons scattered in the living room was too much. So for about 30 minutes we kicked, bobbled, hit, swung, head butted, and did about anything else imaginable that you can do with a balloons to create chaos. I’m going to like these kids.
We had a pancake, bacon, and egg breakfast before the kids opened their first gift, which was for each of them their very own bible. Then we went to church and had an….interesting time there. One thing is for sure, they like their electric guitar. They sang some Christmas songs, some worship songs, some dance performances were done, and then the pastor gave his Christmas message. After they had light refreshments and the creepiest santa that I’ve seen in my life.
We came back to the house and barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers. It was so funny, some of the kids had never had a hot dog before, which is understandable, they are from India. But some of the kids sat down with their plates with just a hot dog bun. They didn’t know what to do with the actual hot dog, so we had to show them it goes in the bun and generally eaten with ketchup and mustard and then eaten with your hands. I saw a few of them take out the hot dog and eat both of them separately with a fork. Which is funny because they normally eat rice and some sort of stew mixture and they use nothing but their hands. Now they’re eating an American dish and assume that they should use utensils when with hot dogs that’s not the case.


After lunch we opened gifts one at a time. It was really cool seeing the looks on their faces and seeing how excited they got after getting their own toy or a new pair of shoes or jeans.


After opening gifts we took some of the balls down to the courtyard to break them in properly. These kids are so funny, they speak 3 languages, being from Maunipur, India they speak their native dialect kuki, they also speak Hindi, and then English. When they’re playing with themselves, they usually don’t speak English, but you can tell that they’re super competitive and a lot of them are really athletic. They keep themselves in line too, if we start playing a game that has rules, they are sticklers to those rules. Drake and I also are sticklers, which is great because they play like us, hard and fair.
Raj and two other drivers took them back to the orphanage which is about an hour away. We had a great time with them, it was sad having them leave, but Drake and I are planning on spending more time with them and going there to stay the night. This experience has showed me a different side of Christmas, one that I think will change my future Christmases for the better.