Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas! What a week it has been. Since Ukraine has just started to feel like holidays are drawing near, it's rather odd to feel that Christmas has come. But there are signs. We have a lot of snow and it is extremely cold. Just this week a few people have put up stands selling Christmas trees. I saw a lady walking with an evergreen branch today. A supermarket I was in today was even playing American Christmas songs. Along with a talented crew, I spent much of the last couple of days preparing for our Ukrainian "family" Christmas.

But first, we had to close the UEC. That meant finishing the financial year, financial reports, budget forecasts, an employee evaluation, publishing some promotional materials, sending out the last e-letter, and managing a financial crisis when we realized that there was not enough money in the bank to pay all the salaries and give end-of-the year bonuses. Due to the failure of my prophetic abilities and other financial circumstances I don't want to get into, the account was just about empty. This brought on a phone call to the US and several emails and finally some funds were released from the UEC reserve fund. We are also faced with projecting a budget that goes well beyond last year's budget. Expenses have just gone up and the dollar is weaker. I hope the board is going to respond positively to our projections. But the stress just piled on.

Then, no matter what, I knew I was going to have a Christmas party. We started planning, so many people helped, and it all came together. On Friday, I just brought the cutting board and knife into the library and chopped while I worked with Sergiy and Lena on two separate projects. We then had a group meeting that night which was very well attended even though semesters have ended for the students.

I had a bunch of help on Thursday and Friday with the shopping and cooking. Anton, who has been studying in Budapest, came, helped so much and made a generous donation to the party and to the ministry. And as we chopped, sliced, and diced, we discussed life and faith. Conversations ranged from the healing of homosexuality to the importance of preparing for marriage, to handling conflict in relationships. Though we were preparing for a holiday feast, it became a great opportunity to minister and be ministered to in a natural setting. [Tanya Lokot, who read the blog and learned about our search for cinnamon sticks provided the much sought after item--friends had brought them for her from Turkey--it gave the Wassail the right touch!]

At the Friday group meeting, Ira--an ICU student--announced that she will baptized this Sunday. That was very exciting. We also four leftover Narnia movie tickets and gave them to her and three of her friends. They were elated. Friday night, I was starving after the group meeting. I just didn't eat much there and hadn't really eaten much the whole day. So Lena and I went to the neighborhood McDonalds. She was tired but agreed to go. They have the Narnia Happy Meals!! I couldn't believe it.

We came home and I started in on the pumpkin pies at about 12:00 at night. Lena was emailing someone about our computer's CD drive--we now know it's broken and hope Gateway will fix it as they promised. She helped and finally the pies were done about 3:00AM. Everything is done from scratch so it takes a bit longer. No canned pumpkin either.

Saturday morning I headed out for the chickens and other odds and ends. Some were already at the UEC decorating. Lena was taking a shower and as she finished they turned off the water in our building. We still don't have any running water!! Sometimes the hot goes out but usually the water will only go out for a few hours. I guess it's a Christmas gift from the government!!

We had a great time cooking. It was all pleasure. Wassail, spinach dip, a nice coleslaw, brussel sprouts, tossed salad, potato casserole, mac and cheese, Ukrainian blynchiki with meat, Waldorf cranberry salad, apple/raising/cranberry stuffing, lime roasted chicken. Then desserts: pumpkin pies, banana pudding, pretzels dipped in white chocolate, brownies, Polish syrnik. It was particularly great that everyone gave money to help cover the costs!

We then sang carols in Russian and exchanged small presents, looked at baby pictures, and a special video presentation. It had that particular Ukrainian presence but also this American flavor.

Sunday is another big day with the baptism and a combined service.

Merry Christmas to all !!