But we do have several Baha'i holidays celebrations during the year.
On Christmas eve I noticed that my next door neighbour, Heather, who is a wonderful and sweet lovely lady, was having dinner by herself in her house. That night, I was actually having a cup of tea at another neighbour's house, who happens to be Muslim and from Iran. The young girl who just moved here is Mana and her mother, Munirih, came to help her settle down here, but she will be leaving this January to go back to Iran.
So me and Mona were having a cup of tea and ice cream at their house, when I had to go back to my apartment to get something for Mona. That's when I noticed that Heather, our neighbour, was on her own. I felt so sad for her and went to say hello and to wish her a Merry Christmas.
I decided do something special for her and invited her over for dinner on Friday, which was boxing day.
So this afternoon, Heather, along with Mana and her mom, Munirih, came over for dinner.
The shops were closed because of the public holidays, so I had to do with what I had on hand, but did manage to get some cakes and sweets.
We had some sesame crackers with chilly crab and cheese and chives dip with soft drinks with ice (it was a really hot day today), then a bit later we had dinner.
I cooked Fried Rice - Mauritian style of course - accompanied with chili and garlic sauce and a classic salad.
Everyone loved the Fried Rice and were asking for the recipe. Of course i cooked way to much and now have fried rice for at least a week... lol.
After dinner, I offered double chocolate chip ice cream or ice blocks, but everyone was so full that they all declined, even Mona!!So Mona made a little impromptu show for us (what a shocker!!) while we digested our food.
And after a while, I took out the fruits and made some tea and coffee and served the sweets, chocolates, cookies and chocolate mud cake that I bought from the shop. The cake was decorated with 'Merry Christmas' on it!! I bought it on purpose for Heather and thought it would be a nice touch.
Of course Mona went crazy on the chocolates and the cake and then was just unstoppable with her singing and dancing performances. But everyone seemed to enjoyed her! We even sang along and at one stage I even got up to dance 'hokey pokey' and 'Round a Rosie' with her!! lol... She also took out most of her toys to show to our dear neighbours and said that she 'needed' to wear her 'doctor's glasses' because Munirih wear glasses too.
But what was really nice this evening, was to get to know Heather a little bit better. She has a cat and has been living on her own in the same apartment for 26 years. She seems like an incredible person and I can't wait to get to know her a lot more.
As for Mana and her mother, Munirih, well they have adopted Mona and myself in their family, and it feels like we have known them forever. And even though our religions and culture are different, we have so much in common, maybe it's because they are Persians just like hubby and his family are and that's why we feel familiar with them, but in any case we love them and their big hearts.
Here is a picture of Munirih, Heather, Mona and Mana sitting in front of the 'christmas cake':
I would also like to wish to my dear readers that do celebrate Christmas,
a very merry Christmas from our family to yours!
Much Love,
1 comment:
What a lovely gesture Sabby, sounds like you all had a lovely day! Speaking from experience, sometimes we need to move out of a comfort zone to open up to new people. We've had to make so many new friends here, out of necessity, and got so much joy from the experience. Looking forward to catching up with you when we move back late Jan. Love
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