The Smile Stash: Low Key Diwali

With a toddler in the house and no grandparents visiting, our Diwali was always going to be low key. Despite the fact it is a Sunday, and most of Raaga's weekend's classes canceled on account of the festival, we somehow did not have the enthusiasm to do anything special. As if on cue, the little one fell sick, ensuring that we don't turn this low key Diwali into something of a celebration. I guess, by definition, miracles do happen when you least expect them!

The first event of note that took place today was when Raaga came home from dance class and announced that one of her (diamond) earrings was missing. Great- losing a valuable piece of jewelry on the day we are supposed to worship the goddess of wealth! I promptly yelled at her for being irresponsible, knowing fully well that I myself lost more pairs of earrings by this point in my life than the number of teeth Raaga lost. She must have felt sufficiently chastised, for she went straight into the kitchen and voluntarily started cleaning the counters and putting the clean dishes away. Though I was sulking for the lost earring and going through the search plan in my mind, I was really happy to see the kitchen looking cleaner by the minute!

The second event of note was when my husband came downstairs and offered a crucial piece of information. Apparently, the toddler found a metal stopper this morning while playing on the living room rug and gave it to him. My husband produced the stopper and it looked like it could be from the missing earring! I quickly opened my phone and took a closer look at the last picture we took at last night's Diwali party- R had both earrings! This confirmed that the earring was definitely in the house and most likely near the rug where T found the stopper. My searching efforts went into high gear right away.

The first few times I dusted the rug, a bunch of cheerios and bread crumbs flew out. Then a quarter- money is always a good sign! It was soon followed by my husband's lost wedding ring. My husband was delighted with this finding! He immediately volunteered to get T out of her high chair from which she had been throwing her lunch on the floor, and give her a bath! Along with the kitchen, my little one was getting cleaned too!

More cheerios flew out of the rug as I continued to dust it. And then, a dried up piece of date?! I think we have the grossest area rug on the planet! Soon after that, the missing earring showed up! Raaga ran to her sister and thanked her profusely for finding her stopper this morning that led us to finding the earring!

Baby went napping. Dad left to catch his flight. Raaga and I found time to read a book and chill. She asked if we could make gulab jamuns for Diwali. I readily agreed- I am usually in a good mood when the baby is asleep. Came downstairs to find that we were out of the gulab jamun mix. We did not have the milk powder or Khova needed to make it from scratch. Raaga was disappointed but she said it was fine and that I didn't need to stress about it.

Just then, the craziest event of the day took place in this household. I went into the pantry looking for something to make gulab jamuns with and I returned with two items. The first one was the box of toddler formula we bought during our trip to Detroit but never used. The second- almond flour. Raaga was sufficiently grossed out as I made the dough and fried the balls. When I finished making them, she was hesitant to try them at first but once she did, she wanted more! Soon, the baby was up and tried our creation. We think she gave her approval too, going by how hyper she was for the next four hours from all the sugar intake.

I can never forget the look on my husband's face when I gave him his ring from the pile of bread crumbs. I cannot stop admiring my older child going on auto pilot and cleaning up the kitchen as much as she could. I am so in love with the fact that our little baby Taara played such a big role in making today so memorable! If we made plans and executed the kitchen tidying up, carpet cleaning and dessert making on account of Diwali, I probably would not remember this day as brightly as I do now! Far from being low key, this Diwali will likely remain one of my favorites in the years to come!