In search of Christmas traditions

Merry Christmas!

This year, we didn't manage to procure a tree until the 24th, and we didn't get her decorated until after dinner on Christmas Day. Placing all the shiny balls on the tree was a fun way to spend Christmas evening. Perhaps that will become a new tradition? Our family is so new, we're still in the tradition-forming stage. Another thing we're trying this year: We only opened stockings Christmas morning. We're saving gifts for New Year's (the traditional gift-giving holiday in Ukraine).

This Christmas was the most unlike any other Christmas in my life. With so little lead-up to the Big Day (no Advent wreath at church, no weekly carols, lots of distracting, work-related stress), I feel almost like it was the start of Advent. I seem more fixated on the Incarnation now than I did just before the holiday. I hope next year that we will find ways, as a family, to create an Advent season in our home.

On to the pictures ... here are some of Dietrich's reactions to seeing a Real Tree in our living room:






And, for comparison's sake, this year's family photo in front of the tree, and last year's.

It snowed today

We bundled up and went outside to play in the fluffy white stuff, before it turns into dirty gray slush.



Dietrich looks like he's a steady walker here ...



but he actually spent a lot of time like this ...



... and like this. In fact, he spent so much time on the ground that we were only able to spend about 10 minutes (i.e. the same amount of time it takes us to get ready to go outside) playing before snow started to creep down his back.



Someday he'll be big enough to play on the jungle gym outside our house, but for now he can just hang out underneath it.

A new way to procure produce

Last night, we took the baby to a big toy store near the center of Kyiv. To get there, we took the bus to the metro. Along the way, the bus stopped at a nearby outdoor market, and after waiting a few moments, it started to pull away, until an elderly lady yelled through the still-open doors for it to stop.

She has been selling her produce in the market, and had two big bags and a heavy cart worth of unsold carrots, beets and potatoes to lug home. She got the bags on, then tackled the cart, but it was huge and unwieldy, and it flopped over onto its side. She asked a man standing near the door for help, but he refused. Several other young guys sat back and observed this poor woman's efforts. One of them clearly was on a date, and to his companion, who kindly gave her seat to the elderly lady, I say, "Run away!"

Anyway, Eric had the baby in the Bjorn, so I helped her drag the cart up the stairs. She and I picked up the produce that fell out in the process and settled back down for the ride. When the bus arrived at the metro station, we helped carry her things off the bus.

Of course we didn't expect anything in return. In fact, we didn't WANT anything in return. We were happy to help. But she insisted on rewarding us. With carrots!

Gearing up

The next Talbot session starts tomorrow. One of the teachers arrived last night, and we enjoyed getting to know him over a pot of chili and a chocolate-cinnamon cake. It will be a really busy two weeks, so I'm quite thankful that Christmas lies on the other side.

I sent the most-recent edition of SEND's Harvest Heartbeat to the printer on Friday. That always feels good. And tomorrow we're having a "celebration and evaluation" brunch with all the ladies who helped put on the women's conference. We'll read the evaluations that the attendees filled out to help us improve the next conference. So, after that brunch, two of the big things that occupied my fall will lie squarely in the past. Ah, accomplishment, I love you so. Especially when so many other things (two seminary brochures, convincing Dietrich that food is his friend) remain distinctly un-accomplished.

It's cold outside! But our new apartment is so much warmer than the old one. No hats and gloves inside, unless we're getting ready to go outside, as in this picture: