Christmas spirit sets in with baked goodies, decorations and decked-up shops

With just four days to go for Christmas, revellers are all geared up to ring in the festive season.

With just four days to go for Christmas, revellers are all geared up to ring in the festive season.

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The markets are filled with vendors selling decorations, fairy lights, sweets and baked goodies.

The churches are preparing for the special Christmas mass. Children too are in a festive mood as they sing carols and celebrate the festival in their schools.

“I was happy to see Santa Claus arrive with goodies and gifts. We all got chocolates. We sang Christmas carols and danced around the X’ mas tree,” said Nitya Sharma from Class 3, Smt Sulochanadevi Singhania School, Thane.

A group of adolescents engaged in decorating a crib at St John the Baptist Church said that this year their theme of the decoration is social network.

“Our theme for this year is networking with the Lord. The various teachings within the Bible will be linked to the various icons of social networking sites and will be put up near the crib. We are also depicting the village and city life on both sides of the crib. The idea is to show how communication and social network brings people closer,” said Roxanne Lewis, 19, resident of Charai.

Sweets like jujube, kulkul and marzipan are prepared in every Christian household. Many even make naankhatai and chakli in Maharashtra for Christmas.

The traditional Goan families prepare delicacies like coconut and rava cake. Every household has their own speciality.

“Christmas brings back a lot of school memories. I remember walking home from school before the festival; the aroma of freshly baked cakes would always make us stop. We would be excited to get homemade sweets prepared by my mother and aunts,” said Benita D’silva, 37, resident of Rabodi.