Christmas Time again:

Merry Christmas!!!

We love the holidays and Christmas is really our favorite time of year.  As usual it’s always missing the most important part…you, our family and friends who we love so dearly.  We wish every one of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

We have enjoyed decorating our tree and house, making (and sharing) treats and listening to Christmas music; we look forward to the time when we can add visiting our friends and family to the list.  Merry Christmas!

Chinese Circus:

As you know we are able to take advantage of many great shows or at the very least interesting.  We had the privilege to watch a Chinese Circus in Chernigov this past week.  It held us captive for over an hour and I could often hear the girls’ astonishment at the feats of the performers.  We even had the honor to watch a Chinese Mask Change, very cool.  The acrobatics and flexibility of the performers was really amazing!

1st Snow

We’re slightly concerned this year, the last few Decembers have been “mild” that is very little snow (less than 3”) and not too cold (near -1 deg C).  This December, we already have two feet and it’s currently -18 deg C (0-F)….if this is what December holds, you can see why we might be concerned with our “cold” months of January and February.  The girls built a large snowball in the middle of one of the walking paths….it’s been pretty cute because it has become a permanent winter fixture that everyone has to walk around now.

A dinner and a show:

Sorry for the poor picture: but it's Ellie receiving her sharp shooting medal

We went to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show and talk about fun!  We were a little hesitant about the cost, but we are so glad we did it, we had a great time!  You get to whoop it up, make all the noise you want and were served fantastic food throughout the night!  Ellie and Rylie were amazed by the show and often say “I can’t believe I saw real buffalo”.  At one point during the show, Ellie was chosen to defend the great State of Texas (our section) in the rodeo games by firing a rifle at a bull’s-eye against other “States”….of course our little sharp shooter won and brought home a medal from Annie Oakley and a honors for our section. 

Thanksgiving 2012:

If all goes according to plan, this will be our last Thanksgiving away from family and friends whom we miss so much during this time of year.  This year, instead of staying in Slavutich not exactly sure what, where and how Turkey Day is going to turnout – we decided to utilize our Euro Disney season pass one last time.  We headed to Paris to celebrate our final Thanksgiving abroad (It’s weird to think but…spending Thanksgiving in Paris, really isn’t as exotic as it sounds).  It was a great decision, because in Disney fashion the Parks were fully decorated, Christmas music was playing throughout the parks and it felt very festive.  We were able to have a great time as a family making ourselves nearly sick on rides before we headed out for a bite to eat…now we couldn’t get Turkey, but how does a Tex-Mex feast sound (BQ ribs, chili, cornbread and even apple pie alamode) – coming from Ukraine, trust me, it sounds absolutely fantastic!  We even had “black Friday” shopping….all the gift shops were ours to choose from!
 

Halloween 2012

The French school hosted a Halloween party.  Kids were in costume (all the kids except mine were in some sort of scary costume), played a couple games and we had loads of sweets.  The pumpkin cutout cookies we made were the first thing gone!  The girls had fun and were so glad to wear their Athena costumes we got in Greece, along with dangly “gold” Grecian earrings and all!  The next week Tony and I had a candy scavenger hunt for the girls to make up for not trick-or-treating.  They made out with quite a big hall!