Festive spirits

Diwali went past in a fury of crackers and flurry of sweets and other goodies from our benevolent employers and neighbours. An excited Ash examined the crackers that his dad had bought a couple of days in advance from the Reliance store in the neighbourhood, which turned out to be damn good and gave us all the fun and excitement we needed. While he had his share of fun lighting sparklers and flowerpots and that other thing that looks like flying saucers on the ground on Thursday and Friday, he spent much of Saturday watching others burst crackers. As for me, I was content watching the skies light up in colourful arrays of stars and rain (the latters seems to be a new invention from Sivakasi, I think).
All of us had a proper 2-day weekend for once (I must say it is me who doesnt get a 2-day weekend all the time). A carnival at our parish church kept V busy on Saturday (the conference and culinary efforts that went into the preparation of many Kerala delicacies and snacks for sale the next day) and Sunday (in charge of a stall that sold some indigenous tubers).
I picked up a coffee mug pair from the Youth Movement's stall and V picked up a couple of curios from the Jerusalem stall (stuff brought by folks who toured the Holy Land this year - visiting Israel/Palestine is becoming the preferred goal of well-to-do Malayali Xians in recent times though I wonder how much they are actually allowed to see in the war-torn land) while Mira opted for an icecream and flavoured milk at the Aavin stall.
Upon returning home, Ash asked us why we hadnt woken him up the way we do when he has to go to school in the mornings. He is not ready for church in his present state.