twas a village christmas

with the american christmas season come and gone, ironically as I write this post which will have had its "post date" altered, ukraine feels more like our traditional christmas for many reasons.

my project will all my
english clubs

• it finally started snowing
• ukrainian christmas falls on the seventh of january
• christmas trees (or new years trees) go up around the twenty eighth of december
• stores in town have lights and santa paraphernalia
• і тд.

however, that doesn't mean I can't bring / force some "early" holiday cheer to the students in my school. a lot of our american traditions for christmas and new years are combined in ukraine, which makes distinguishing between the holidays much more difficult for myself during the holiday season. 

that sadly took about 25 minutes to perfect

the 25th ended up being pretty low key. with just a small"ish" gathering of local friends over some chilled beverages, tunes of christmas carols, white elephant exchange, and intense discussions over the super powers. it was just enough america to get you back in the holiday spirit for the evening even though outside that apartment door the holiday spirit hadn't picked up yet.

the big finale before holiday break, schools put on a play of sorts where santa and his granddaughter are the main star. kids dress up in costumes (not quite sure why) and go hybrid carol / trick-or-treat for money or candy.