Our plane to Kochin was delayed by an hour, but we touched down in the dusty airport around 10pm on December 23. As soon as we step outside, Finn’s first words are “Ahhh – peace and quiet!” On the way to our hotel, Tess complains that her stomach hurts and she is feeling queasy. Before we know it, she is vomiting all over everyone and everything. We pull over by the side of the road in the dark to assess the damage and try to wipe ourselves and our luggage clean.

We arrive at the Cherai Beach Resort smelling pretty rank and ready for a shower. We tip the driver more than the price of the fare and apologize profusely, again. We spend the next day recuperating, with Tess clearly suffering from a nasty bout of food poisoning. It’s the only time in eleven years when she hasn’t been interested in the sight, smell or taste of food!  She is a good sport and fun to be around in her illness. We read and nap together.

After a day’s rest and with Christmas looming, we set out with “Rajin” for Fort Cochin and Secret Santa shopping. Each of us has 1000 Rupees to spend on our Secret Santa. The only guideline is that the gifts have to be Indian. Finley has Tess and he selects one limestone elephant, a bar of homemade lemon soap, six of his soccer trading cards, an elephant painting and ice breaker candies.  For Louis, Tess purchased an assortment of Indian spices, a lunghi (Indian manskirt), and a group of antique Indian coins. Louis buys me two embroidered Indian shirts, and I buy Finley a coveted magnetic hand carved wooden chess set.

We fashion a small Christmas tree out of a palm leaf and festoon it with tiny colored balls. And, after an Indian banquet in the garden at the hotel, we go to sleep and await Santa’s arrival.