Stake Christmas Party

Our ward decided to put on a play for the Christmas party and everyone got involved.  Brandon and I got roped into being the leads, Kiddo got a speaking part, and the girls were in dances.  Our neighbors, the only other expats in the ward, also got roped into speaking parts.  And then at some point, it stopped being a ward party and turned into a stake party, with each ward doing their own skit.  So suddenly there was a little more pressure.

We practiced for weeks.  Most of the time it was just us and our neighbors running our lines and blocking, and just skipping over the parts that involved other people.  During our last practice the other ward members showed up to fill out the scenes.  The primary and YM/YW had been practicing their dances, but we never got a proper run through, with all the dances included.

Finally the day arrived! The person in charge of our skit asked everyone to be at the church three hours before the start of the performance so we could practice it once with everyone there, using the stage, mics, etc.  The expats and the people in charge were there on time.  But no one else was.  We ended up sitting around for three hours waiting for people to arrive,and then another two hours since the performance itself started two hours late.  So all-in-all, about five hours hanging out at the church building before it started.  (I'm just glad we brought some snacks!)

She didn't love her costume 

Three shepherds, a sheep, and an angel

The entire cast

When they were finally ready to start, our ward was up first.  It went pretty well aside from some technical issues: the people in charge of the curtains didn't know when to close them.  There were a few other things that didn't go perfectly, but I'd say it went as well as could be expected considering we never had a real run-through.  Plus, the junior primary's sheep dance was pretty dang cute.

Always tricky to get the "sheep" to get on and off stage.

They didn't close the curtain at the end of the scene...so we just kept going.
Good ad lib, Brandon!

We only practiced this scene one day so the timing is a little off.

Also, my mic stopped working.

A celebration dance by the other "shepherds" (aka the YM/YW)

And then a dance by the angels (aka the senior primary).
Also, the curtains closed when they weren't supposed to,

And then the skit ended...and the curtains didn't close.
So we just sat there for a while.

We did it!  They told us to stay on stage while the MC asked Brandon, the "head shepherd," some questions about seeing the Christ child and giving Him the coat.  It was a little awkward, but whatever.

And then there was a familial debate about just how much longer we wanted to stay.  I wanted to see the other skits, but we were also exhausted from sitting around the church all day.  So we watched a few (I know I'm biased, but ours was definitely the best one), but by 8:30 we were ready to go.  And when we were told that there was another 3 or 4 skits left and the food (most likely biryani--no need for utensils) wasn't going to be served until it was all over, we were convinced that it was time to go home.

It was fun, it was exhausting, and overall a very Indian experience.

(A senior couple serving in our ward did a much better job of documenting than I did.  CLICK HERE if you would like to see pictures of the open house, what some of the other skits were like, a few more pics of us, etc.)

Christmas Concerts 2019

It's that magical time of year where we hear holiday music performed by our children!  First up was H's band concert.  Even though he started playing last year, this school doesn't start band until 6th grade.  So H was placed in beginning band with the 6th and 7th graders who had never played before.  But his clarinet game is still strong!

E joined the Elementary School choir so both H and E had performances at a mall near their school.  The traffic getting there was a nightmare, but luckily we had left home a full two hours before they were supposed to be there so we didn't miss the performance.  And for our efforts--surprise!--the mall gave them ₹500 gift certificates to KFC and Burger King.

Next, E had her holiday concert.  Her grade performed a song, and then she sang the same songs with her choir, as well.

Besties! 

There was a little mix-up about CJ's holiday performance.  She had been sick the previous weekend, so we didn't attend the Saturday Christmas festival that her school was putting on.  No biggie.  So while I went to E's concert, Brandon went to CJ's school to hear her perform--only to find out that the class had already done it.  At the festival.  Oops.

But look how much H and E have grown up since last year!  And just for kicks, HERE is 2017.

E's Baptism

It's milestones like these that make me remember how different our children's life experiences are bound to be because of where we live at the time they happen.  For example, H was baptized in Houston where there was someone in the ward whose entire calling was to help coordinate baptisms.  I remember it being pretty low-key, especially since he was baptized at the same time as someone else (so we were in charge of only half of the program).  We had a pizza party with our family beforehand, H picked Baptism as the opening song, and Brandon's Dad gave a talk about the Holy Ghost.  We sang Scripture Power as the closing song (the other boy getting baptized picked this song), and Brandon and I made little bags of Hershey Kisses with a thank you note attached for people to take as they left.

But, of course, this time was bound to be a little different.

I totally fudged the address on the invite, btw.

Addresses here are really complicated so I also sent a link to a map.

E invited three of her friends from school and Brandon invited his team from work, we invited the ward and a few specific families in the ward, as well.  All of the people we invited who belong to other faiths attended, and some of our ward friends didn't, so there ended up being more people there not of our faith than there were from our ward.

We were so happy that E's besties from school made the 1 hour drive!

We were so sorry it took them 2 hours to get home!

In fact, as the time to start approached, our Primary President (who I had asked to speak) and her daughters (one, of whom, was supposed to play the piano) still hadn't arrived. I messaged the mom and didn't get a reply, but the Bishop happened to call her about something else and handed me the phone.  They weren't going to make it, which meant I would play the piano and the Bishop would give the closing remarks. (Luckily, I had practiced the hymns just in case.)

To summarize: We sang Lord I Would Follow Thee and H gave an opening prayer.  I gave a short talk about the promises made during baptism, during which I described E's favorite scripture story, the Good Samaritan.  H and I were witnesses while Brandon baptized E.  She was so excited she was practically bouncing in the water!  While she was getting changed, the missionaries played a more modern adaptation of the Good Samaritan story. However, when the movie ended, Brandon still wasn't back from changing his clothes.  I whispered to the bishop that Brandon wasn't available yet to give a talk about the Holy Ghost.  So the bishop jumped up and gave his prepared remarks, and then asked Brandon to proceed to give E the Holy Ghost, which he did.  Then the bishop got up and talked some more and, at the end, asked Brandon if he had anything to add.  Nope!  A closing song and a prayer by CJ and that was it!

Food is a big part of any occasion here, so we knew we would have to provide a good spread.  I even thought about getting it catered, which isn't as crazy as it sounds.  Cratering is super cheap and really common here; I once attended a stake choir practice that was catered!  But ultimately, I decided against it. If E liked pizza a little bit more, we might have bought a dozen from Dominos and called it good.  But in the end we made it ourselves.

So after the service was over, we opened up the partition that led to the kitchen area where the food was waiting.  We had pasta salads (Italian [the salami was exorbitant!] and Southwest), a veggie platter, sliced muskmelon and watermelon, grapes, pav rolls, soda, peanut butter cookies, brownies, and bite-size Bountys.  I'd say the food was a success: I had two locals ask me whether I made the food or ordered it in, so it must have been pretty good!  A brother in our ward said the southwest salad reminded him of an Indian dish that I unfortunately didn't catch the name of, which I thought was interesting.  And one more thing: the bishop's 11-year old daughter pointed at the bowl of grapes and asked me what they were.  They sell grapes at all the grocery stores I shop at, but definitely not at the smaller ones or the street stalls.  I knew the pasta salads might not be familiar, but it hadn't occurred to me that our guests may not recognize some of the other foods on the table.

All-in-all it was a really great day!

I didn't get a picture before some of the ward members and our driver left, 

but we got one with all of our other friends, neighbors, and coworkers.

We had people from the US, India, France, Thailand, Korea, and Switzerland.

I just noticed that CJ is wearing the same dress that E was wearing when H got baptized! Total coincidence!  Check it out here!

Hyderabad

Brandon needed to renew his visa so we decided to tag along and see Hyderabad.  We were all a little hangry when we got there so our first stop was Paradise Biryani.  That cheered us up!  Then it was a short drive to Lumbini Park, where we took a boat ride to see the giant Buddha statue in the middle of the lake.  This was probably the kids' favorite activity of the trip.

The captain let us take turns sitting at the wheel.

The next morning we explored Golconda Fort--it was huge!

Next we went to the Qutb Shahi Tombs, which was also really cool.

After lunch (Paradise Biryani, of course!) we went to see the Charminar.  There was too much traffic, so we had the driver drop us off and we maneuvered the street stalls until we could get close.

But after fighting the crowds, we decided not to go inside and instead walked to Chowmahalla Palace.  CJ was pretty overwhelmed and tired, so Brandon picked her up as we were walking and she slept the entire time we were at the palace.

And then it was time to go back to the airport.  It was a quick trip, but a lot of fun!

Halloween 2019

Halloween really is a very American holiday and, since Dawali occurred right before Halloween, there wan't much Halloweeniness going on.  But CJ's preschool did do a costume parade (which I didn't attend because of the Diwali dance assembly).

On Halloween Day, the elementary school had a costume party, so E dressed up as a ghost.  (We didn't go to that, either.  Thank goodness for other people's cameras.)

That night, our complex had organized trick-or-treating by providing a list of who was willing to have people come to their home.  95% of them were Indian, and they were super into it.  Some of our neighbors decorating put my lame doorway bunting to shame!  We went trick-or-treating with some friends, but I took the girls home a little early after they became too tired to keep walking around.  Lots of candy and lots of fun!

 Basketball player, butterfly, and spider.

H was planning on wearing his storm trooper costume, 

but when he put it on, not surprisingly, 
it was way too small, so he had a last minute switch.

How many trick-or-treaters can you fit in the elevator?

Answer: 8 + 3 adults