Winter Crush..

Winter Hug:

People shuffle through their cupboards, and look in their closets for warmest and thickest sweater their grandmother ever knit them. They take out their mufflers and put on layers of clothes. Make a cup of coffee and curl up in a ball in front of the heater. They couldn’t care less about how fat they could potentially be looking with so many layers on as its better safe than sorry. But for a family like mine its better fashionable than sorry.

Yes you heard me. They can never be caught dead even wearing big warm boots, at the risk of giving the image of hiding hideous ugly feet underneath. And on the chilliest winter day in Lahore they would much rather spend the day shopping at outlets such as PFDC (Pakistan Fashion Design Council) and do this:

• Get manicures and pedicures
• The latest mud facial
• Get the newest clothing items that just hit the shelves for their winter wardrobe.

I’m old fashioned. These things are not my idea of fun on a cold day. Considering the fact I must confess I wouldn’t even take a bath on a very cold day. But despite my efforts to resist exiting the premises of my house, my sister convinced me to take her to lunch. We went to Freddy’s Café. Ordered warm chicken cream soup and awaited our Alfredo Fettuccini pasta when the devil rang. Ting! Went my sisters Crackberry(Blackberry). Guess who it was? It was Hannah. Hannah is our aunt, but she prefers not to be called any such title. She’s ten years older yet considers herself to be part of us.
“I invited her for lunch” said my sister. For her Hannah was the ultimate style icon version of Mother Teresa, Jade loved her company. I tried showing my displeasure to which she kept showing me the door. I didn’t want to leave. At least not without eating pasta! So I decided to bear with our guest.

Within seconds in came a long, lean mean machine with beautifully blow-dried chestnut brown hair. In Jimmy Choo high heels without socks! With a very thin shawl lightly wrapped around her arms, carrying the newest limited edition Louis Vuitton bag. Jade shot up to receive her, while I slurped soup. We exchanged greetings and nothing more.

Then Hannah did what she does best. Gossip. She went on and on about every single member in the family. After every family member got their due share of criticism, me and Jade were left. Her face showed signs of an urge to gossip about me, but how could she do it in front of me? So while sipping on a lemon margarita (which is the only thing she had the whole time), she insisted we check out the latest bags at BeSmart (a local version of Saks Fifth Avenue). Hmmmmm……gee aren’t you holding one of the latest bags? But I could see this was a clear hint I needed to take a hike. Which is what I would much rather do then to stare at Gucci’s and LV’s when the weather required Meg Cabot’s and Tom Clancy’s. So I took off to my books. Sat in my balcony and curled up in a ball next to the heater and read away.