Saturday, January 12, 2008

Merry Christmas (Again!)

Dominic and Joshua looking over their haul of candy and money from Christmas caroling
З Новим роком та Різдвом Христовим!

We awoke to Orthodox Christmas (January 7th) by having Maxime ringing our door bell in the morning ready to go Christmas caroling. Maxime, Joshua, and Dominic spent most of the day and evening, going door to door singing and reciting Bible verses in exchange for money and candy. I was shocked by the amount those three brought in by the end of the night.

And this was just the beginning of the food on Christmas at Olya's
Joshua, Alyona, and Marianna inspecting the beginning of what was to come

Edna and I were also awakened by the smell of delicious Ukrainian foods being prepared next door by our neighbor Olya. It wasn't long before she was knocking on our door and inviting us over. We wisely decided to skip breakfast and not eat anything before going over. Her three daughters, son-in-laws, and four grandchildren all treated us like part of the family. This included insisting we eat a little of everything and then a lot of everything until we thought we were going to die. Just when we thought we couldn't possibly eat anymore, they took the plates of food away, made the table smaller, and then crowded it with desserts, again expecting us to eat.

Dessert after Christmas dinner

Some of the neighborhood kids singing for candy and money
Oksana (far right) lives below us and is taking English lessons from Edna. Anya (behind Oksana) lives in the building next to us.

Throughout the evening we were treated to children and adults coming to our door to sing beautiful Ukrainian songs. We feel extremely blessed to have experienced such a wonderful celebration of our Savior's birth in the country of Ukraine.

Christmas Carolers at Olya's

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