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How we celebrated New Year

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As I promised in my previous post, here are some pictures of our New Year. First, on December 28th there was a New Year party in my daughter's kindergarten. They staged "The Snow Queen" by Andersen.

In the beginning kids had fun dancing rock-n-roll. They loved it. Their parents did, too :)
Meet Ole Lukoje
Kai and Gerda
This is the moment when Kai's heart becomes cold
Kids playing snowballs. That's when the Snow Queen stole Kai
Gerda meets the ravens - Karl and Klara
... The robbers weren't very kind to poor Gerda
Kids had great fun, there was a lot of dancing, singing and playing. Oh, and they got their first sweet gifts, too!
When I say "sweet" gifts, I literally mean sweet. It's a custom in Russia to give packages of candy to children at New Year and Christmas time. They get lots of candy. We are still eating the candy my daughter got ;)

Now, the main part comes: December 31-January 1.

In some families kids go to bed on December 31st just like in any other day. In our fam it's the only day they are allowed to stay up as long as they can/want. This time Delia went to bed at 4 a.m.
We stayed home since the weather was too warm and damp to go out (Very unusual for our winter here! Almost no snow at New Year in Vladimir!). But we had lots of fun. We sang songs, had good food (most of it was cooked on December 30th, so I enjoyed my time on December 31 as much as I the other members, apart from finishing some work before my New Year break). You know already that Ded Moroz brings gifts to children, right? Well, in our family the gifts appear under the tree exactly at midnight. Nobody knows how that happens while nobody is asleep. Maybe Ded Moroz uses the minutes when children run to another room to watch fireworks, who knows ;)
This time everything went exactly as planned for Ded Moroz. The gifts appeared under the tree right on time and nobody saw who put them there :) After that adults could finally watch TV, relax with a cup of tea and some delicious cakes while Delia and her cousin were exploring their gifts and playing. I love this family time. More than anything.

Happy 2012! And may it be the best year for you!

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  1. Olga TkachenkoJan 12, 2012, 5:50:00 AM

    Very nice and cool! In my sons' kindergarten the performances were great, too. The big one's group staged The Nutcracker', and in the small one's group there was just a show, without any definite roles.
    On December 31 the kids were in bed close to midnight. It was not my intention, they just were too tired, as we spent the whole day skiing, skating, and tobogganing. The weather was perfect, about -10 and snowing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Olga ArakelyanJan 12, 2012, 10:07:00 AM

    Hi Olga! Yes, the performances in kindergartens are always great, aresn't they? I always wanted to say I admire you as a mother of two boys. You are so active, and you teach them with your example to use their energy in a good way - for sports, walks etc. Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Olga TkachenkoJan 12, 2012, 2:30:00 PM

    Thanks! This is actually not at all difficult now when they are no longer so small, but it was really hard some years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJan 14, 2012, 3:30:00 PM

    Hi Olenka!
    Great pictures! Thank you so much for sharing them! It seems that the children had a lot of fun there! =)
    My congratulations on Old New Year! May all your plans come true this year! Tanya M.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Olga ArakelyanJan 14, 2012, 3:33:00 PM

      Thank you, Tanechka! Both for your comment and for your warm wishes! Happy Old New Year to you, too!

      Delete

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