Staying in Ukraine - Day 7: Merry Christmas!

I woke up to falling snow and a thin layer on the ground ... then I was remember it was Christmas Day in Ukraine! WHITE CHRISTMAS!!! I didn't miss it after all.

Actually, I had a rather unexpected emotional morning. I fought back the tears in the City Cafe when the song "Jingle Bell Rock" started playing. That is one of my two favorite non-religious Christmas tunes! The tears stung my eyes on the walk to the toy store because I kept slipping on the ice layer I couldn't see underneath the snow (no falls, just not so gracious ice skating movies). I couldn't hold back the tears in the toy store when I saw this sweater ... and I knew I had to get it for Dennis ... no matter how much it cost! I cried even more when the first one I saw (brown color) wasn't in his size ... I looked around and the only other one was green and was his size ... I cried even more (happy tears this time) ! Thankfully, it was only 224 grivna, less than $30.

I got to school and found it was closed, but this had not stopped me from seeing my boy before, so I wasn't about to let it stop me today. And, I would've been able to shed some pretty powerful tears at this point if they had turned me away. I was met at the door by a very nice boy who knew me and what I wanted. He took me up 2 flights of stairs, down a long dark hallway, up another flight of stairs and then placed a chair in the middle of the "shoe" room and motioned for me to wait. A teacher came out a few minutes later and said a bunch of stuff in Russian, the only part I caught was Dennis! :) I said DAH and she motioned for me to stay and she left.

Dennis showing off his new sweater

While I was waiting for the teacher to come back, I noticed some boys I could see through the crack in their door. They noticed me too and opened the door and said "Good morning to you!" Then slammed the door and ran off giggling! The doorman asked me some version of "do you speak English" repeated the words to me, but I said NET good morning ... good afternoon ... dobrye den. Ah, he understood and went off to tell his buddies. Next thing I know 5 boys swarm me saying good afternoon to you and laughing! Lucky for them I had brought some Christmas presents!

(Disclaimer: sample packs only -
actual stickers delivered based upon availability)
Alright, so bad lawyer joke!

I have never seen kids go so GAGA over stickers before! The girls has joined the little gathering in the corridor and so I pulled out their packs of stickers first. The boys started grabbing at them, but I said, "NET NET for girls!" A couple of the boys made hand gestures (no, not the bad kind) indicating they would be glad to take "girly" stickers! Once the girls realized they didn't have to fight off the boys, they each calmly took turns selecting the stickers they wanted and very politely said "thank you" in English.

The boys, not to be deterred by girly stickers kept pointing to themselves and making grunting sounds (what else would a boy do??) :) So, out came the 5 packs of boys stickers ... STAND BACK EVERYONE HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT!!! Those boys nearly tore the stickers apart grabbing them away from me and each other! WHOA! I said (like they had any idea what I was saying). But before I could think about how to fix this they were all done and happy with what they had in their hands.

While the boys were admiring their prizes, the girls decided to bombard me with hugs and kisses! :) Vika, a very sweet girl with sky colored gray eyes was the first ... and the last ... to give me hugs! Boys again not to be one-up'd by the girls gave me their thanks you's in English and then one made the brave move to give me a hug, which if of course accepted ... so then I had 5 boys on me like ugly on ape! Kisses were given by the boys, too! Now, if only our American children would be so appreciative and thankful for some stickers!

Dennis showing off his new boots - we got these for him in the US and had them shipped over because Snezhana said they both needed boots for the cold winter. I got these for $35 at stride rite and had to spend another $40 for international postage! Since we hadn't seen them on him since our arrival, I wasn't sure they had made it. Dennis must have know they were the boots we sent because he insisted I take a picture of them.

In'it he so handsome?

I also got new pants for him today, too. I hadn't originally planed to get clothes until we were ready to leave the school, but I thought this was the right size and it has those adjustable waistbands so I figured that was a good chance they would fit. You should have seen the smile on his face when I got out new pants and sweater for him today! When we went to try on the pants, I realized how tight his current jeans actually are - the ones he's worn every time we've seen him. Poor kid ... no wonder he's so skinny he can't eat cause his pants are too tight. What is even more great about these pants is that they have a fleece lining sewn on the inside so he won't even need to wear longjohns!

Dennis and one of his buddies .... and the ipod!

Well, I got one of the teachers to tell me that church is at 9:30 am and that all the children from the school will be there. I hope I will be able to sit with Dennis. I will stop by the flower shop on the way and get her single red rose for after the show, to accompany the small box of chocolates I bought for her today.

She didn't answer my call at 3pm today when I arrived, so I didn't get to see her or give her the Christmas present I brought. She did answer my call at 9:45pm, but told me she was sleepy! I know those kids stay up way past 10!

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