Tree's made

There are no sleigh bells ringing. It's just the sound of the wedding brass band at the illegal wedding hall around the corner. For not only is Christmas coming, it's also the marriage season! An important part of the marriage ceremony is the Baraat, or marriage procession. This is where the groom, in his wedding finery, rides a white horse, often for the first time in his life, to meet the bride at the wedding venue. To keep him company, and possibly give suggestions to the amateur equestrian on how to ride the horse, his friends and relatives and a brass band (including men with gas powered chandeliers on their heads so everyone can see where they are going) follow him. I am sure the bride's heart swells with joy when she hears the band. Ours, however, do not, because it generally means the band is going to block the road for at least half an hour and cause traffic chaos! And they're going to be playing "Man Dole Mera Tan Dole", a huge hit from 1954. Possibly more than once. Who can tell...

Today we put up the Christmas Tree. Longtime followers of this blog will note it is much bigger than last year's tree. Rod and I discussed whether we should put some of the Diwali lights on the tree. We felt considering the high standard to which they had been manufactured (not!) we could be pushing our luck. The fire engine's not going to be able to get past the band...