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I hope you all had fun and happy Christmas' and New Year's celebrations, wherever you were.
Christmas was so wonderful! My best buddy and site mate, Pat, surprised me with a Christmas tree! I was very surprised and delighted. There may have been tears... ;-) It was a thoughtful gift and one that started out my Christmas with a bang!
We did not have a white Christmas this year (shockingly!) but we had a great time. Fellow Americans came to my home for Christmas day (about 5 visitors) and one dear Ukrainian friend, Ruslan. With the great help of Susan and Stacey, we cooked dinner. Pat was in charge of the chicken again. The whole meal was a success! Because afterwards everyone was too tired to do anything but just go to bed. We did manage to open presents. We did a White Elephant exchange this year. It was fun!
Ukrainians believe that how you spend your New Year's celebration reflects how your year will be spent. If mine is spent in the company of good friends, surrounded by laughter and merriment, then I'm off to a good start! Pat and I went to Brianka (just 10 minutes away) to our friend, and fellow PCV, Tessie's church party for New Years. There were lots of people, plenty of Russian and skip-bo! Can't ask for a better celebration!
In Ukraine New Year's is the biggest holiday, and it is celebrated all night long. At mid-night, we ate a feast that Tessie had prepared. Burritos! People lit off fireworks, we opened presents from Father Frost, we played games...it was incredible. I couldn't make it all night. So Pat and I went home with Tessie and crashed at her home for the night. The next day we played a board game that Pat had given me for Christmas, "миллионер" (Millionaire). It's basically the Russian version of Monopoly. We played for 3 hours! Pat won, but I didn't make it easy! :-)
It's hard to believe that this year, 2011, I will be leaving Ukraine to come home to America. To stay? Probably not for long. :-)
May your New Year be blessed--full of laughter and love.
To Be Continued...
