Christmas at Shishya

Merry Christmas!

Christmas time at Shishya has been a whirlwind! It doesn’t snow here but in the mornings there is frost on the ground. There isn’t heat in the houses so it can get really cold! The way the houses are built is for keeping them as cool as possible during the summer months. The school had a big Christmas show last weekend (singing, dancing, acting!) but for the last few weeks the boys have also been busy! We have had craft nights making Christmas trees and decorating their house, a going away party for Sharon and Abby with a DANCE PARTY!! We made cookies, had a big campus going away party for an uncle, we had this amazing opportunity to check out a hockey game in Dehra Dun (the boys LOVE the Mighty Ducks movie! The tickets were given to us for free, and the manager even said to come have lessons sometime! Apparently this man takes kids who can’t go to school and teaches them how to rollerblade, then they become teachers to others and he puts them through school! Our boys were SO excited to see and touch ice! A famous skater from India wants to donate skates, too. This bus ride back was fun—the older boys sang songs in the back) the hostel boys had a talent show/ entertainment of sorts on Christmas Eve with singing, dancing, acting, games and of course food. Please check out this adorable video I got of the small boys dancing here. Gautum has awesome moves! We rang in Christmas all together at midnight. We helped wrap the little boys gifts earlier on Christmas Eve and all the gifts were handed out and opened. They scored some serious loot! – crayons, clothes, bouncy balls, games and some got new shoes!! Frieda and Ken gave me the two books she has written, some henna and some really pretty bangles.

On Monday before school got out I taught Moral Science to little Ashish’s class and I TRIED to teach them how to sing Away In The Manger. I sang it to them first. I have never done anything like that before! Makes me smile thinking of myself singing out loud to 36 first graders. Never in a million years would I do that for the 8th graders! I learned this week that lemons work well for dandruff. The boys picked a bunch of lemons and were squeezing the juice on their heads before our big hockey outing! On Christmas day (today) we had a big breakfast together and had church. Then we played games (I was instantly schooled at chess) and played volleyball against the boys. This place is like a big family and I felt very much apart of it on Christmas. I miss my family back home but I feel very loved and appreciated here. All the boys have so much life. Every one of my senses is awakened and working here. I feel VERY alive and am rejoicing in the fact that our Savior was born this day.

Check out the rest of my Christmas pictures here.