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Of good cheer and goodies

Christmas comes with a touch of tradition and a wagonload of offers this season

BE PREPARED Make sure you have enough candy stuffed in your stockings when Santa comes calling PHOTO: REUTERS

For millions of people around the world, Christmas is the best time of the year. Here in Bangalore, for those looking for a special holiday experience with a touch of tradition and a wagonload of offers, things are no different. A host of offers are waiting for anyone those with the will, time and resources.

All the premiere hotels, for instance, are geared for the occasion with Christmas trees, carol singers and specially-designed Christmas menus. Cafe Mosaic in Taj Residency will offer traditional Christmas dishes from the evening of Christmas Eve onwards, including roast turkey, yule logs and X-mas pudding. Sugar 'n' Spice offers assorted chocolates, pastries, special breads, plum cakes and puddings, all carrying the signature Taj flavour. At the Taj West End, Blue Ginger will feature a live Vietnamese band and an a la carte menu. The hotel is also organising a lunch, hi-tea party and dinner on Christmas Eve.

ITC Windsor Sheraton id dedicating the season to the visually impaired and has built its theme round them, topped off by a Tree of Light dedicated to those who visualise the colours of life in a different dimension.

Carol singing

On December 24, The Park will feature carol singers at i-Bar and a five-course meal at i-t.Alia, which includes rich fare like batter fried soft shell crabs with pesto rosso and roast turkey galantine with char-grilled vegetables and cranberry sauce. On Christmas Day, a traditional turkey lunch awaits revellers at Monsoon along with a host of other delicacies and a collection of special wines.

If you're in the mood for a dine and dance, head to Le Meridien, where there is a Christmas Eve dinner buffet and a live band. The dinner menu includes roast lamb rosemary flambé, grilled fish with newburg sauce and Peking duck among others. The special lunch has such highlights as roast turkey pan gravy and cranberry sauce, pan seared chicken with garlic and coriander coulis and sliced roast pork with mustard. La Boulangerie will also serve up Christmas specials. Customers can savour fine treats like choco mint truffle, rich ginger cake, black currant loaf and walnut roulade.

Things are no less grand at the Grand Ashok. The Christmas Day turkey brunch features a spread that includes goose liver pâté, traditional roast turkey, apple and pine nuts sage and onion stuffing, glazed chestnuts and yule log. The pastry shop boasts of an equally sumptuous affair, with a wide range of chocolate cookies from chocolate chip and peanut butter to marzipan halfmoon and vanilla krimpeel. There are also a wide range of Christmas hampers to take away, with cookies, chocolates, meat pies, plum cake and a lot more.

What's Christmas without a good, large dose of shopping? Westside has an offer for all its shoppers. On a minimum purchase of Rs. 1,500, shoppers can enter a lucky draw that gives them a chance to win a seven-day trip to Bangkok and on a purchase of Rs. 1,000, shoppers can win a domestic holiday from Club Mahindra. The store also has a variety of Christmas gifts on the shelves like candleholders, figurines, wooden photo frames and trendy mugs, that start at modest price of Rs. 79 onwards. There are also activities for children like carol singing, face painting, hair braiding, magic shows and puppet shows, besides the chance to click pictures with Santa Claus.

Those looking to send gifts to their loved ones can turn to Sifymall.com, which showcases a range of gifts and consumer products. Everything from fresh flowers and sweets to DVDs, garments, electronics and consumer durables are available here. The store also offers gift certificates from Globus, Landmark, Shoppers' Stop, Big Bazaar, Pantaloon, Tanishq and Fab India. If you have relatives and friends in the U.S.A. you can send them sweets, diamond jewellery, flowers and so on through Sify.

If you need that bit of the exotic vacation, then try out the Kenilworth Beach Resort and Spa in Goa, which is offering a Christmas package of three nights and four days, which includes perks such as a bottle of port wine, sight-seeing around old Goa and so on. You can also reach out further for the Pure Magic packages of Marriott Hotels in London, Rio De Janeiro, Zurich, and Virgin Islands.

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