TOGETHER, AGAIN

Not all Christmas gatherings may be the same, but they're all made with love

- Alexandria Barton D'Souza

It was 2021 and just a few days before Christmas. Our specially bought fir stood in a far corner, its leaves fluffed out but mostly bare, a few fairy lights tucked around its bristly branches. C’mon! I’m waiting! it seemed to admonish. I’d been feeling dwarfed by the enormous task of outfitting the six-feet-tall evergreen. But Tree was right. Nope, I thought, No more putting it off.

“You string up the lights, Mum. I will do the rest when I’m home from college,” my daughter Ananya told me, taking control of the situation. An idea struck. “Call your friends over to help with the tree,” I told her. “The more the merrier!” The next few hours were a glorious blur. Ananya’s delighted friends were thrilled to be decorating a tree for the first time. They didn’t know where to start!