Christmas, New Year’s, and Christmas again!

Whew!  Just taking a minute to catch my breath . . . it has been a busy holiday season. 

Our family celebrates Christmas on Dec 25th (as I grew up doing in the States) and, then, we celebrate New Year’s Eve with Anton’s family (as he grew up doing in the Soviet Union), and finally, we celebrate Christmas, again, on Jan 7th with our Russian Christian Brothers and Sisters.

We party - multi-cultural, multi-lingual, and multi-confessional!  WHOO HOO! 

I really do love it!

I was thinking about all of this the other day  . . . about our different celebration practices.  And I discovered a difference that I had never really noticed before.  See if you can follow my thought train . . . 

In the States, we start celebrating Christmas at the end of Nov/ beginning of Dec.  

We have parties and fun and say to each other, “Merry Christmas” until Christmas Day . . . then, the very next day, everything slows down (and comes down.)  

New Year’s is pretty much an after-thought for most of us.

We celebrate before for the holiday and on the holiday - and have a big “let-down” afterword.

In Russia, most put up their New Year tree (like our Christmas tree) the week before Christmas.  They work 1/2 day on New Year’s Eve - come home, and start getting the food ready for the New Year’s table (more about this later.) 

Then, most of the country has the next week off (until the 11th)  - and this is the party week!  

People rarely congratulate each other before the holiday. If they do, it is just during that week before and they say, “I congratulate you on the up-coming New Year holiday.”  

Only on the very strike of the clock and afterward (for the whole month) do people say, “Happy New Year” (and this way of congratulating is with all holidays, really.)  

Slowly the celebrations wind down . . . after the 7th (Orthodox Christmas) people get back on a regular schedule and finally, it’s back to work.  

Russians start with a Holiday BANG and party for a week until we’re all really tired of the holidays!  There is very little post-holiday depression - we’re all so tired, we’re ready to go back to “real life.”  

Not sure what these differences say about us... 

I would be very interested in hearing your ideas. 

                      

Please leave a comment! 

Our own little “Snow Maiden.”

Christmas - Apartment Tour!

I’ve been Christmas surfing the web these past couple of weeks.  So many beautiful house tours in the blog world!  I was moved to share some of our traditional decorations . . . 

 “Dobro pashalovat! Zakhaditye”   

 “Welcome! Come in!”

Here is our little tree!  

This year I think it is the prettiest it’s ever been - in part because of our friends, Misha and Yulia, and their generous gift of really great lights!  (the strand was really long so we decided not to waste their beauty and put them around the window - the effect is a little disco, but festive!)

Under the tree we have:

• the tree skirt that Anton’s grandmother, Babushka Valya, made for us, 
• our stockings that I bought at GYM on Red Square in  Moscow several years ago, 
• Sophi has her new nativity set that Gran Gran and Pops gave her this year, 
• the HUGE pine cones I got at Lake Baikal (Siberia) many years ago, 
• some of my favorite “Gzhel” (Russian pottery) pieces of “Ded Maros and Snegurichka” (Grandfather Frost and Snow Maiden), 
• and our IKEA candle stick (for which we are frantically trying to find a replacement bulb so we can actually USE it!).

Here is a close up of Sophi’s Nativity set - she plays with it every day - making up all kinds of stories with the characters.  (I just wonder why they didn’t include the shepherds in the set?!)  

A big thank you to Mom and Dad for such a thoughtful and FUN gift!

Here is the top of our TV:

• Mom and Dad’s Christmas card with Sophia, Houston and Caroline (their grandkids), 
• and a nativity set that I bought several years ago at the Russian Orthodox gift shop in Moscow near the Christ the Savior Cathedral - at that time it was hard to find any Christmas decorations in Moscow, much less anything religious. It was a real treasure then, and still is today!

Sophia’s room:

• she has her own tree that her Babushka and Dedushka gave her last year, 
• we decorated her bunk bed, 
• and she as a stocking on her door . . . hmm, Mrs Santa better remember to put something on the list for that stocking . . .

The kitchen:

• red lights on the window that flash (SO New Orleans!), 
• tinsel on the appliance shelf, 
• and all my Christmas tins on top of the shelves - I collect them (hint, hint to Mr Santa! - sure would love a new one to add to the collection ...

Speaking of collections - here is our Christmas mug display!  The blue ones I got in Smolensk in 1997 - they have a kind of medieval nativity design - another unbelievable  find of the times.

Hope no one is offended by this shot - just want to show how we even have a festive toilet room!  Christmas EVERYWHERE!

Bathroom - and even the water pipes are “decked!”

The front door is wearing the bells Mama gave Sophia.

Sophi put them up just as her Gran Gran instructed and remembers her with LOVE every time they ring!

One of the ornaments I made this November during the “Nor’easter” on Virgina Beach. 

Howling winds at 50 mph rocking our beach house brought out the Christmas creativity in us all!  

One of my favorite ornaments - 

Anton gave it to me last year - in celebration of starting the building of our new house!  LOVE IT!

This is my stocking - so cute - see the little mice?  they are celebrating New Year’s (which is the bigger Russian holiday)  the bottom shows the clock at midnight and the table ready to eat and presents ready to open . . . the whole spirit of that holiday on my stocking!

And, we’ll close the tour with a beautiful hand-painted Russian ornaments - “Dyed Maroz and Sneguroshka/Grandfather Frost and Snow Maiden.”

We’d love to have you visit us in person!

Merry Christmas from The Yastrebov’s!

Emmanuel

We’re back in Smolensk after a month and a half long visit to the States. 

It is always hard to leave home (USA) - 

• to hug and kiss my aging parents at the airport security check,  
• to bid farewell to the strong Southern sun and clean water (all the time,) 
• to say good-bye to Chick-Fil-A and Mexican food restaurants.

It is always great to come home (Russia) - 

• to my dear husband, 
• to my wonderful Brothers and Sisters at church, 
• to snow and ice and cold, 
• to fresh eggs and wonderful sour cream. 

As you see, there are so many mixed feelings - and combine all that with jet lag and the inevitable culture shock (yes, even after all these years) - our family always goes through a rough first couple of weeks "re-entry time." 

This year was especially difficult:

  

No snow or cold to greet us this Dec, 

only cloudy skies, dirty streets, 

and grouchy worn people who had lived thru the month of Nov with absolutely no sun.  

My sweet husband was one stressed-out man.  

There was very little business and no money in the 3 jobs he usually works . . . no in-come and no prospects. 

I have to be honest, I thought many times about getting back on a plane  - - - it was a scary time.

I decided to be honest about our problems and my fear and posted them on Facebook.  The outpouring of concern, support and prayers was exactly what I needed.  It was “virtural” medicine for my soul - my friends were the medicine.

And, this was fast-working medicine!  

That week my husband got a great job tip/opportunity.  His spirits lifted - which eased all of us.  After a couple of days I said to him,  “I just want to thank you for these past few days.  It has been so much FUN to live with you!”  He looked at me a little funny with his shy little half-smile.  We both knew there had been a big change.  

This week Anton starts the trial period in a new job.  It is not quite the job he was promised and so, we are a little disappointed, but it is a JOB and he will be making a bit more than he made before.  For all this, we are thankful!  

I want to say a big THANK YOU to all my friends on Facebook for their prayers and support.  God used you and your prayers to bring us hope, healing, and change!  For all the things Facebook may be, to many of us it is a way to connect in Love. 

I am thankful for this gift, for this time!

And, so, now we enter the Christmas season - - knowing that God is WITH US.  

Emmanuel is here and He lives and works in His People. 

I want to know Him and hear Him and follow Him this year . . .  

                    I’ve got so much to learn . . .