A truly homely Christmas celebration

Tree at the corner? Check. Crib at the other corner? Check. Holly and mistletoe? Check. Decorations throughout the house? Check. Roast chicken and sorpotel? Check. And the Christmas party at the Pereira-Tanwar’s Parel residence is all but ready. They’re only waiting for the guests now. 
When I visited their 2,500 sq. ft. apartment, which is one of the last few old structures in the city, I struggled climbing up the flight of stairs because there was hardly any light. After ringing the doorbell, I was greeted by Jennifer Pereira, who welcomed me into a dimly lit room, where I could see a faint outline of the decorations. And then she lit up the house and it felt like the world’s largest Christmas tree had been brought to life.
Jennifer, a retired Air India flight attendant, says that she wanted to do up her house after travelling the world and looking at the way people decorated their streets in various parts of the globe. “My mother, too, was a huge inspiration, but I tried making it more international by getting a few trinkets from different parts of the globe,” she says.
Jennifer also says that she visits a store in Hill Road named Raave’s, a Chennai-based firm that comes to Bandra every year during Christmas. “They have things that you won’t find anywhere else and it’s a store that I’ve been visiting for several years to stock up on my Christmas decorations,” she says. 
Jennifer was helped in setting up everything by her daughter Priyanka, who was in Rajasthan at the time I visited their home. “We did the decorations earlier this year because of her trip. Usually, we start the process on December 18 and take the decorations down on January 6,” says Jennifer. 
Christmas lunch comprises roast chicken, sorpotel, a mix grill comprising English sausages, chicken liver, roast potatoes and chicken legs. For sweets, there is a dish called baath that is baked using coconut, semolina, eggs, sugar and cinnamon. In addition, Jennifer also makes a crunchy sweet that Goans call suanle, which is made of rice flour, refined flour, coconut milk and sesame oil. “We also use Goan jaggery, which is a shade darker than what we get here,” she explains.
While the chicken is usually ordered from outside, Jennifer ensures that she makes the sorpotel at home. “It’s my mother’s recipe and I make sorpotel once a year only. It takes me an entire day to prepare and therefore I do not oblige anyone if they ask me to make it during the rest of the year. I prepare it a week before Christmas,” she says.
Although the house is beautifully decorated, the family is not celebrating the traditional Christmas lunch at home this year. “We’re visiting family in the suburbs, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t decorate our house,” concludes Jennifer.