Christmas in Rajkot

I spent my 2014 Christmas in Rajkot, Gujarat.  A fellow coach and myself went to Rajkot to conduct a week long camp at S N Kansagra School between December 21-28. My fellow coach and I assumed we wouldn't have much of a Christmas celebration because we would be working on Christmas day and there is only a 0.7% Christian population in Rajkot while the majority are Hindu and Jain.  

December 25th rolls around and we conduct camp as we normally would, finish our last session, and start to get our things packed up and ready to go. Usually by this time the students are long gone but on this day they all lingered and even sat down to ask us questions to distract us. 

Suddenly appears two students holding a special Christmas cake with our names written on it and flower bouquets they had specially made for us. It was the most thoughtful and heartfelt Christmas gift I have ever received. Neither of us coaches had mentioned Christmas once that week but these kids understood that we were away from our families and it was a holiday that was important to us. It brought me to tears how thoughtful and considerate this was and it was a Christmas I will never forget.