Meeting Father Frost

We were invited to a Russian Christmas & New Year celebration hosted by the Kids First Foundation. They are affiliated with a local adoption agency (not ours), but they were kind enough to open the even to all local families that adopted from Russia.

Nick had a great time and wasn't too interested in leaving. He got to hang out with his buddy Jakob and I got to catch up with a few other families that I had not seen since before the completion of their respective adoptions. It was great to see all of them and their children.

Left: Dancing with the other children.

Right: Focused on what Father Frost was saying.














Left: Father Frost
Below: Performers of the different pieces.

Happy Russian Christmas!

Today Russia celebrated their Christmas Holiday. Given that the Russian Orthodox Church still uses the Julian calendar; Christmas celebrations take place 13 days after the western world celebrates.

When we traveled to meet Nicholas in October of 2007, we did quite a bit of shopping with the thought of buying one Russian made gift to give to him each year until his 21st birthday. This year he got two, the first one was his Christmas stocking and that has been hanging on the mantel since we first decorated in December.

The "official" gift for this year is a white t-shirt featuring Misha, the mascot from the 1980 Summer Olympics that tool place in Moscow. This year we kept it simple, but as Nicholas grows, we will talk to him more about the Russian traditions and maybe incorporate a Russian menu for dinner.

Why I love YouTube?

Moscovites celebrate the New Year around St Basil's Cathedral

Christmas Pictures....**edited**

.... coming soon! I know... booh!

My laptop has a virus, that hopefully will go away tomorrow. A friend of mine is going to take a look and I am confident he will be able to get her back to health!

So be on the lookout for pictures. Once he got the hang of it, we couldn't get him to stop ripping paper. It was indeed a very Merry Christmas for our sweet Nicholas

Update!

--- Nick's Grandpa send some shots. I still have to download mine.

Goofy Guy

Noticed the Spiderman attire? Someone has become a little obsessed with "Spidey" since his feet got big enough for the slippers that his godparents got for him.


















Yes, he now poses for me and is starting to like the camera, and I like this crazy hair of his. A little on the long side (no, I am not letting it grow on purpose, just busy and he is getting it cut on Saturday), and not combed.

Nicholas & Saint Nicholas

Target Shopper in Training

Nick may not know Santa from a pork chop, but Target's toy catalog keeps him entertained!