New Year has come
and gone, and January is almost over! Where does the time go? Please,
let me know if you find the answer! Time. Time is an interesting
concept. I hope one day I can have some understanding of it, for now
I am just grateful we have time together as a family wherever we are,
wherever we live. And now we live in Kazakhstan!
Our winter holidays
were calm and crazy at the same time. Most importantly we had time
together as a family. Christmas was crazy because of all of the
concerts and shows kids had to participate in on that day, so we
decided to have our Christmas Eve tradition on Monday, December 26.
Spencer stayed home from work, and we all spent the day together
relaxing and playing Monopoly. We usually have Russian pelmeni (meat
filled dumplings) for our Christmas Eve dinner, and then we talk
about the birth of Christ and sing Christmas songs. This year we
added a music talent show since we love music so much in our family
and all four girls play some music instruments. We had a lot of fun!
Decorating our apartment for Christmas
Making paper snowflakes to hang on our ceiling.
Sophie and Lexa are playing duet during our Christmas Eve music show.
Nika and Lina are performing a song
We do all of the
presents on New Year because it is when Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost) delivers presents
to the kids in this part of the world and because in the past couple of years our kids always had to go to school on Christmas anyway. It
actually works out quite nicely. We usually spend the day playing
games, cooking, making cookies for Ded Moroz (just like Santa, he also
has a sweet tooth!), have our big feast and then have a “moviethon”
when we watch Christmas movies both in Russian and English as long as
we can stay up with a little break at midnight when we go outside and
light sparkles to meet the New Year. This year the New Year Day was
on Sunday and so we didn't stay up too late because we had to go to
church the very next morning. The time we spend together is precious and I hope the kids will remember it when they are out of our nest and on their own.
This year we had turkey for New Year's dinner. Turkeys are very hard to find here and when you do find one, it usually costs a fortune! We never had a full roasted turkey even on Thanksgiving here but I was able to find one right before New Years. This baby cost us $50 but it was totally worth it!
Our little Christmas tree after the kids have gone to bed.
New Years morning - always a happy time!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! And may thins year you will have a gift of time, time with your loved ones, time with your family!
These candles were a present to Nika. She made them out of a kit.
The first place we
went in the new year was to the ice village by Khan Shatyr. This is
where they built a presidential New Year's Tree for this holiday
season and it is where they launched the main fireworks at midnight
on New Year's. We went to Khan Shatyr first to have a lunch and to
buy little sliding boards for the kids. They had a lot of fun sliding
on the slides built out of ice, going through the ice maze, climbing some
ice sculptures and just being kids.
Lina is going down the small slide
Sophie is checking out one of the igloos.
Lina and Sophie going down the big slide (middle slide at the top)
Happy kids
Ded Moroz and Snegurochka starting a dance party
Our crazy family
Girls are trying to climb ice horses
Running in the maze
Having fun in the ice village
Minions
Our minions with their minions
With babushka at Presidential New Year's Tree
Climbing the dinosaurs
When we got back to
the University Campus, the girls wanted to try their sliding boards
on a tiny hill right before the entrance.
Lina with her rosy cheeks after being outside. She looks just like a Russian Matrioshka doll!
