Diwali is actually a five day long festival, with each day representing a different aspect of celebrating love and light. One of the Diwali traditions I really enjoy is creating colored powder/chalk drawings, known as rangoli. Rangoli are typically drawn right in front of one's door to adorn the threshold and welcome one's guests during Diwali. I've seen extremely elaborate rangoli designs that are complete scenes from stories we grew up with to more simple geometric drawings - even though I'm not exactly great at drawing, I try every year to make a fun design! This year, we were in luck because our good friend Sushma's sister was visiting DC, and she is an incredible artist. She drew this incredible rangoli on our back porch, which we then visited with candles. It not only served as a fun welcome, it also served as a wonderful place to take pictures with our loved ones that evening! 
Another thing Sahar and I love about hosting and celebrating holidays is the opportunity for multiple generations to come together. It was absolutely wonderful that my parents could join us and celebrate with our friends, sharing stories of the games they played and how Diwali was celebrated when they were children. This year, we also had very special little guests in our good friends Anita and Rachid's two year old twin sons, M & S. The boys were absolutely fascinated by the candles we had out for the celebration, especially the ones adoring the rangoli, and lit up when they saw their first Diwali sparklers being lit! Sahar and I loved having M & S there, and can't wait until our daughter/son gets the chance to meet and play with them as well 😄
- Sapna
