I bought a poinsettia yesterday. They had them for sale in the underground crossing near the metro. We put our four Christmas figurines on top of the DVD player. I guess that's pretty much it for our Christmas decorating.

We had friends over tonight for dinner. I made some spicy pumpkin soup and quesadillas. Also made a pumpkin pie according to my aunt's old recipe.

Monday I had some frustration with something related to the UEC. I can't explain it on the blog, but I pretty much went through the roof. Then I came back down from orbit and have mostly calmed down. Something happened that will cause our staff to do a lot of extra work and it seemed senseless. But it's beyond my control.

We sent our Christmas cards to the US with Bogdan and Cassandra. Last year, one card was returned to us--in about August.

Today the Ukrainian Parliament finally recognized the Holodomor, the massive forced famine in which Stalin killed more than 10,000,000 through starvation, as genocide. The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs is trying to get the UN to recognize it as well. On Saturday, for the second year in a row, the president led the nation in remembering those who died. A massive display of candles adorned Mikhailivsky Square where there is a small monument dedicated to the Holodomor. The president before Yushchenko thought little of remembering. It upsets the Russians too much. Russia still isn't too happy about pointing out the tragedies that occurred during the Soviet Union.