It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, the cyclone seems to have passed us by or petered out somewhere before it hit much land. We all were a bit tense to know whether we would get stuck at work Friday night again, but luckily the rain didn't hit too hard.

Liz and I were quite happy because it meant that we could spend Saturday shopping for Christmas decorations for our apartment. One of our friends lent us an extra tree and we found a Christmas store in Egmore where we could buy trimmings for it. And buy we did! :) We got lights, garland, and ornaments to cover our 5-ish foot tree. Without planning it purposely, we ended up with a patriotic red, blue & white (the lights) tree. Hmm...maybe we are a little homesick!!!! We got stockings, a manger scene that lights up & plays 'silent night' and even mistletoe!!!! Afterwards, we went to dinner at the American diner that opened up recently. Sparky's diner is great-real American food at reasonable prices. I've been there twice now and had a real burger (with no extra spices added) and a meatball sub on homemade Italian bread. MMMMM!!! One of the best parts is the ambiance. It's decorated all over with Christmas lights and Christmas decorations. And they play real, honest-to-goodness Christmas carols the whole time. The owner of the place-an American himself-is even having a special Invitation-only event that we are planning on checking out on Christmas Eve. I never really thought of spending Christmas Eve in a diner, but I am really looking forward to it.