Christmas is round the corner. The soothing carols and the chilling breeze never fails to take me down memory lane. Memories of Christmas celebrations at St. Ann’s, my alma mater, are as fresh as yesterday. I can feel the nip in the air as we cycle to the school, completely layered with sweater, coat, and gloves. Locking our bicycles and placing them under the shed inside the school premises, we could hear “Silent night…”, adding a spiritual feel to the whole atmosphere.

Christmas was celebrated mostly on the 22nd of December, even as we had our last half-yearly exam. It always used to be a lighter subject, either Moral Science or GK. The morning assembly was different. In front of the main building where the assembly was held, a row of chairs were placed with the helpers in our school occupying them. We were so so proud of most of them, whether the ayah aunty who rang the bell meticulously at the beginning and end of each period to the maali bhaiyaa that took care of the school garden.

A shiny silver star could be seen at the top of the school building attached to a thread that came down magically towards the stage as the short skit depicting the birth of Lord Jesus was enacted. The aura was mesmerizing. That was followed by the announcement of which class and which section had collected the most amount in the donation box ( Sorry! cannot remember the exact name). The celebration ended with the helpers receiving gifts from sister principal as we applauded cheering them all the time. Thereafter, we would move to our respective classrooms to give our last exam looking forward to the Christmas holidays that followed.

We always planned to visit the sisters in school to wish them on Christmas. Trust me, the true reason was to have a bite of the most delicious cake. But Christmas in Roorkee had a pact with the Universe to be an extremely cold day mostly accompanied by rain. Therefore, we never got the permission to go to the school to wish our sisters personally. However, the carols always bring back fond memories of the yesteryears. Sharing my favorite carol as well as my previous post on the true spirit of Christmas.

Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.