Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Happy New Year from Ukraine!

Yeah! 2008!!
З НОВИМ РОКОМ!

Maxime has been staying with us for the last three days so we decided to make sure he had a nice Christmas and New Year. We weren't sure if he was going to be in town for Christmas so we decorated our New Year's Tree and opened Christmas presents on New Year's Eve. We celebrated Christmas a little early by Ukrainian standards, but traditionally presents come from Grandfather Frost (Did Moroz) and his granddaughter, the Snow Maiden, on New Year's Eve anyway. Christmas was forbidden to be celebrated under the Soviet regime and was only brought back in the late 90's although Sviata Vechera, or Holy Supper, was still celebrated among families. It makes sense that New Year's Eve would be the most popular holiday in Ukraine as we've been told.

Joshua, Maxime, and Dominic opening presents on New Year's Eve
Maxime seemed surprised that he was actually getting such cool gifts.

We decided to let the boys go wild in their room at midnight since the rest of the world outside was exploding in colorful fireworks and explosions. I've never seen so many fireworks going off all over a city at one time in my life. No matter what direction we looked, we were treated to amazing displays of pyrotechnics. The explosions of sound and light went on for over three hours.

The Boys Celebrating 2008

Dominic, Maxime, and Joshua celebrate the New Year

3 comments:

Ethan Larson said...

That's awesome I love the pix of the confetii!! We check in on your blog now and then as you are linked to most of our old Ukr pals blogs. Looks like you guys are doing well and that is great to see. drop us a note sometime, we woudl love to hear more about your ministry there and how first year missionary life is going.
Grace Mercy and Peace
Ethan

The Claycamps in Ukraine said...

Happy New Year, Silva fam! We pray that God would pour out his blessings on your family this next year as you serve him here in Ukraine! We leave for America in two weeks, so we might not see you before we leave. Take care and we will for sure see you in the Spring!!!

The Claycamps

Tracy said...

Wow! That confetti looks like fun! What a great idea. I'm so glad that Max could celebrate with you guys too. He really is a part of your family :) God bless you guys!