This week will cover our daily life during the holiday season here in Accra. This year, thanks to COVID-19, we decided not to travel anywhere for the holidays. It was a really tough decision to make, but it just didn’t seem worth the normal hassle of air travel with two little ones, nor to put our whole family at risk of exposure. And that doesn’t mean just the four of us traveling, but our family members on the other end, too. So, we did our best to recreate holiday magic here at home in Accra. Varun took most of the holiday season off from work, but he did have the occasional one- or two-day trips, or a few hours of work in the office. But, for the most part, we got to spend the time together as a family.
Thanksgiving
This year we had two Thanksgiving celebrations, because our friends weren’t able to take a day off in the middle of the week. Non-Americans don’t always realize that Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday, not more conveniently on a weekend. So, we had our very close friends over the weekend before, as well as a colleague of Varun and his wife. It was nice to get some time to spend with other people and share our Thanksgiving traditions. No Thanksgiving in our house is complete without the traditional cranberry and pumpkin bread for breakfast. And we didn’t do the turkey this year, but we still did the traditional Michalik appetizer spread for lunch, and Varun had fun grilling up some nice steaks and South African filets. Our spread included some dips, a deli meat platter, my attempt at pigs in a blanket (keeping in mind that cresent rolls are not available here,) as well as some makeshift Chex mix, since Chex cereal isn't available here either. I also made some traditional molasses cookies for everyone. The girls and I have decided to rename them: Gail Girl cookies, because each successful generation of Gail Girls loves them as much, or more, than the last!
On Thanksgiving day itself, we had plenty of the two delicious breads leftover to have for our breakfast, and we ate it while watching last year’s parade on YouTube. The girls absolutely loved the parade with all the floats, and Santa at the end! After breakfast I put on our favorite movie, the movie that we watch every single Thanksgiving, or at least I do: Scrooge. This year, Sara Gail was on the edge of her seat the whole movie. She sat with me the whole time, completely enthralled. And I was over the moon, I couldn’t believe how engaged she was with the movie. And it meant so much to me to share in this tradition with her, one that was a staple of my childhood.
The rest of the day was very relaxed, since we didn’t cook a turkey on Thanksgiving day either. We were able to watch the actual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade live, as well as the dog show afterward. And in the evening, we had a nice steak dinner together. Overall, it was a quiet holiday, spent with family and friends. While we may not have been with our whole family, we were still able to celebrate together and enjoy each other’s company.
Christmas
Once Thanksgiving was over, it was time to get the house ready for Christmas. Here, like everywhere around the world I’m sure, the stores start decorating and selling Christmas items long before the holiday season actually begins. But for me, I can’t start decorating until Thanksgiving is over, that’s when I consider the Christmas season to begin. This year’s tree hunt was quite a bit different from last year’s. Last year we were able to go to the great White Mountains in New Hampshire and chop down and bring home a beautiful, REAL, Christmas tree!
This year, well this year, we were shopping for a tree in a much warmer climate. So, our hunting ground was limited to the stores and shops here. That’s right, me, a born and bred New Hampshire girl, broke down and bought a fake Christmas tree. For year’s I’ve vowed never to do it, even living in Houston, TX and Charleston, SC, where real trees are a bit more pricey, I never gave in and bought a fake tree. But this year, since we were stuck here in Accra for Christmas, I had to be more practical. The girls had fun looking at all the different options and helping us pick one, but I was heartbroken, and never really felt that our tree was up to snuff. Varun liked it, and everyone who saw it thought it was beautiful, but to me, it’s not really Christmas without the perfect tree, and this wasn’t my perfect tree.
We did get lots of time together during the holiday season, though, with Varun taking a bit of time off from work. We decided to venture out and try some of the local Indian cuisine that I had heard about from friends. And during our meal Abigail discovered that she too has a penchant for photography!
During the rest of the holiday season, I tried my best to recreate our traditional holiday magic here in Accra by making the traditional Christmas cookies that my family makes every year. I had to improvise a little since chocolate chips are hard to come by here, but I think my pumpkin chocolate chunk cookies still came out fairly well. I was also able to find a cereal closer to Chex cereal in one of the stores here and made a homemade Chex mix more resembling what I make back home in Houston. And, finally, we had to do our best to have the girls meet Santa during the holiday season. That was a bit harder to come by, especially with COVID, but we did find a festival that had advertised Santa being there. I wasn’t actually able to go with the girls, because Varun’s colleague’s wife had gone into labor while her husband was offshore. We didn’t want to leave her alone to give birth, especially since she is originally Brazilian and speaks more Portuguese than English. I stayed with her in the labor room while Varun took the girls to go meet Santa, and they weren’t very impressed this year, but they were also missing me being there too.
Then, as Christmas was fast approaching, I received some news that almost ruined Christmas for me. A few months back I had ordered all our Christmas gifts for the girls and had them sent to my mom’s house. And my mom and brother took them all, along with a couple other things I wanted back from their house, and packed them into a big barrel that would then be shipped to us. I had been reassured time and again from the shipper that the barrel would definitely arrive before Christmas day. But as that day got closer, that became less and less likely to happen, until he finally confirmed that it would not, in fact, arrive at my house until after Christmas. I was completely devastated, not for myself, but for the girls. I know it might seem petty and unimportant, it just being things that were coming. But to me, I had hand picked gifts for the girls to try and make Christmas special and magical. And, I had selected a few gifts that would help them during times that Varun travels, and I was completely heartbroken that none of these things would arrive before Christmas day. I was forced to come up with a different solution, so Varun and I hitched up Santa’s sleigh and went on a shopping trip here to find gifts to give the girls until Santa could deliver the gifts they had asked for. That made it hardest for me too, having to find these other gifts, because, in our house, they are each allowed to asked Santa for only 2 gifts, so I couldn’t fathom that those gifts they had asked for from Santa, wouldn’t be there. I was terrified that their little hearts would be broken. But, I collected myself and did my best, with Varun’s help, to find some things to give them in the meantime. The route that Santa had to take to avoid all the holiday hustle and bustle traffic was very different from what he’s used to, but it got him there nonetheless. (This was a road parallel to the main thoroughfare, and a road still in the making from the looks of it.)
So, Christmas day came, and the girls were still in for a few surprises. For instance, Santa had brought along a magic Christmas wind that had left “snow” on our windows. And he accidentally left the AC on all night, so our house was very, very cold all of Christmas day! Varun had gotten me a Nespresso machine so I could have my traditional cup of coffee on Christmas morning. I had even found a way to watch A Christmas Story, a movie that always plays nonstop in our house on Christmas. But, I could tell Sara Gail wasn’t entirely happy. She knew something wasn’t right, that something, and certainly some people, were missing from our celebrations. And even though the gifts they had each asked for didn’t make it in time, Santa was sure to leave a note explaining what had happened.
It was also a bit more difficult this year because there was only Varun and I around to make all the various foods for our Christmas feast. We did make a turkey for Christmas, since we had skipped it on Thanksgiving, and there was the dessert, an apple pie that Sara Gail specifically requested then never tried a bite of, and all the sides: scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, and sausage and rice stuffing. When all was said and done, we spent a good 6 hours in the kitchen doing all the cooking and preparation. We were able to have a Zoom call with my family during some of that time, but it was also time spent away from the girls. So, all-in-all, it was a very different holiday season this year. I tried my best to recreate the holiday magic that I grew up with and loved, but I could tell that Sara Gail felt like something was missing. All we can do is hope for better circumstances this time next year.
Home Learning
During this time period, the girls’ school was able to get permission to try out a new style of home learning called a Home Learning Pod. So, one of the parents graciously offered their home, with a large outdoor patio, to the school. The school then brought in all the necessary learning materials, sterilized the area where the kids would be, and brought in two teachers to teach a group of four students. The program only ran a few days a week from around 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. Sara Gail still had a few days of virtual learning, but it helped that she was now able to see her classmates and teachers in person. She still wasn’t fully happy, she wouldn’t be happy until the schools were open and she was going all day every day, like she’s used to. But it was still an improvement and something for her to look forward to. I still needed to review things with her at home, including a litany of “sight words” that she needed to learn, and I had to make sure she finished her worksheets for the week. But it gave me a little break when she’d go off for a few hours to her friend’s house. I still had virtual lessons for Abigail every day, but she enjoyed them herself and was very engaged. Her teachers were always impressed at how well she participated. And she loved doing the Montessori activities all by herself too!
Indoor Play
Since the schools weren’t fully open, there was still lots of free time to be filled with creative play, both indoors and outdoors. And at least now Daddy was home for a long stretch so the girls enjoyed having him to play with too. We were also still seeing our friends in our “bubble” on a regular basis, so the girls were getting some interaction with their friends and peers too. I just love to watch how their creative play progresses. Especially Sara Gail, she is really starting to develop a very vivid imagination!
Swimming Lessons
The girls are continuing to enjoy their swimming lessons, and they are both improving a lot! Only a few months ago Abigail wouldn’t even get in the water without me, and now she is excelling and starting to swim on her own, with the coach’s close supervision of course. And they both love to get the chance to play at a playground, especially with Daddy there too!
Hair
With all the free time and relaxed schedule this month, I’m still having plenty of fun putting the girls’ hair up in fun, creative ways. And it’s always amazing to see how long their hair is getting too! They certainly inherited the Indian length and volume!
Varun thought it would be interesting this month to also include a few photos of what he gets to see when he goes out on his various work trips. The hotels that he stays at may look nice on the outside, but the hotel rooms are not very accommodating, especially since he’s going there alone and missing his girls.
And then here’s a nice picture showing what he actually gets to see when he’s working offshore. When he’s out attending these surveys and inspections, he’s actually doing very hard labor: crawling into tanks, climbing high up on the ship or rig. So, even though the girls and I have a hard time when he’s away, he’s having an equally difficult time due to all the intense, physical work, and the loneliness he feels too. But, he does get some nice views it seems.
Well, that sums up how the Raghunathan’s spent the holiday season in Accra for the year 2020, a year we had all looked forward to seeing end. I hope you come back next week to read about our adventures in January - including the schools finally opening again here in Accra!
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