A Christmas to remember

Well what do you know, it wasn't Santa that visited us in Ukraine. Actually it was Father Frost (who dresses exactly the same) and his daughter Snow Maiden.

If you don't have a chimney, that's no problem because they will slip in through the window! Snow Maiden is all dressed in blue with white fur trim. There definitely were gifts beneath our little tree that no one knew who put them there, so Father Frost found us! [Nick: He must have done that for our benefit though, because he usually leaves presents on New Year's Day]

Afterwards, we dressed and hurried over to the orphanage where all the teachers and workers performed a play for the children.

R had treated us to many of the rehearsals the day before, but everyone was in full costume including the children in the audience! V and R were dressed as little pigs! Yes we took pictures, but unfortunately we cannot post them yet. We will try later. The silly costumes took center stage as each performer danced several dances.


A man appeared as a ballerina and danced to Swan Lake. There was a forest witch with an evil skeleton man, a white fairy and a chicken man who wished to someday be a sultan with belly dancers. Children cheered and clapped and laughed.

Here's a shot of the curtain call.

Then everyone was invited to the center of the room for Ukrainian dances. R ran over and made sure his whole new family joined. We held hands and circled, jumped and clapped. One particularly silly dance had us touching our neighbors cheeks, nose and ankles during the song. I noticed Colin and Claire were all smiles and blushing too. 20 years from now they will be glad they entered in rather than sitting on the sidelines. Hurray for R!

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone has showed up just to watch R and V at a school event before. V was circling with his classmates when his eyes caught mine. He lit up with recognition. Afterwards they proudly posed for pictures in their costumes.

Colin and Claire are delightful throughout this whole process. We were even complimented by the orphanage director about how good their behavior is! Claire finds a way to look fashionable in all this weather. Her long chestnut hair really stands out here. Colin's hair does too, of course. All the children admire their braces. They look forward to being bigger siblings. None were upset because the amount of presents seem meager compared to previous years. The excitement of the day was enough for us all. As it is supposed to be. Plus we love the pastries here. After all, there are no calories on Christmas. Colin and Claire made one urgent request for future vacations though. They want next time to go somewhere warm!