Our first family cultural experience-- the Nutcracker Ballet.
My grandmother's Christmas gift money was partially spent on tickets for a children's ballet performance at the Oktyaberskiy theater. It was very well done, with many old teenagers or adults participating.
We all loved it, though agreed we wouldn't complain if it was shorter. I was very glad to join Ella for a nap in the car while the boys went to McDonalds (this was at 3:30!) After watching The Sound of Music for New Year's Eve, and seeing the Nutcracker, we're all feeling cultured and musical!
The boys and I are all motivated to push through some English homeschool during their Russian school vacation. It is wonderful to have two weeks off, but amazing how little homeschool we are getting done! It is always challenging here to be ready for western Christmas on December 25th. Though we were happy it was a Saturday, we were surprised that Danya had school Monday through Wednesday after that! But now we are enjoying a long vacation, while our friends in America have to already start back to school. Today (January 7th) is Eastern Orthodox Christmas, but it's hardly celebrated, so this year we're basically ignoring it.
While we do school, Ella likes to play with 'the little squares' in the 'muffin thing'. Some days she gets carried away with other objects.
The tears were that I said we had to clean them up. Can you see this is the middle of the kitchen? I actually cooked lunch around them, but said that for dinnertime we'd have to put them away. Oh, the tragedy.
A few sunny moments on some days remind us how beautiful that big ball of nuclear explosion can be. Overall, I don't even notice the sun's absence this time of year. The hardest time for me is October-November when we can feel the drain of daylight hours, and all is dark and gloomy with rain. As soon as the snow stays, it becomes beautiful! Now, we are in the hopeful months!
