We are all missing the Chrirstmas decorations going up back home. Here in Donetsk they are decorating too, but the lights are just now being put up. Here, they celebrate Eastern Orthodox Christmas on January 7. They celebrate on this day since this is the first day the Wise Men arrived to give Jesus gifts (thank you Dr. Govers for educating me on this;-)). Here Santa (known as Grandfather Frost) wears a long, red robe and gives gifts with the help of his granddaughter, who wears a light blue dress with white trim. Here is a picture of them:
Christmas Eve is called ‘Sviaty Vechir’ (Holy Evening). Generous amounts of tasty foods are usualy prepared for dinner and there needs to be at least 12 different foods on the table. A traditional food is ‘Kutia’ -- prepared from cooked wheat and a special syrup containing diluted honey, grated poppy seeds, raisins and sometimes walnuts (I'm definitely getting the recipe for this one!).
They are erecting a huge Christmas tree in the town square here. They've been working on it daily for 1 week, sticking real limbs into a metal base that's about 40 feet tall. We hope it's done soon so we can go take a picture next to it.
The similarities to back home is that EVERYTHING is on sale! The stores are trying their best to get in the black this year here as well! The big toy store we found where we buy "S" most of his toys is getting more and more packed and had a 25% off sale yesterday.
Another thing Gavin wanted me to say is he will be making a list of soccer terms in Russian so all the kids on our block(s) will understand little "S" when he gets home and can play soccer with him. Here's an example:
Ball = Myech
Goal = Gol
Pass to me = Mney!
Corner Kick = Kor-nir
Shot/Hit/Kick = U-dar
We miss all of you back home!
Jingle All The Way,
Gavin, Dani & Scott
Please share the recipe for Kutia. I would love to be able to make that for Viktor!
ReplyDeletewe sure miss you guys, can't wait til you're home....with "S"
ReplyDeleteJust so you know, not everyone has their trees and lights up on this end. We still don't have our tree and we might not have it until next weekend, so you might arrive home before we even get started decorating. I know the transition back home with "S" is going to be crazy, but we cannot wait to meet him and see you all again. Ps. Is Gavin (and "S") playing baseball this spring with CNLL or will you all be moving into the spring soccer arena? Amazingly, CNLL signups have begun and they are splitting farm into two groups. Just thought you would want to know if you hadn't heard that yet.
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