My husband Luke and I live in Berdsk, Russia, with our three children, Christina (10), Katie (8) and Peter (3). Berdsk, a city of about 90,000, is a bedroom community for the large city of Novosibirsk. It does look like Christmas here. There is a foot or so of snow on the ground. This morning the tree branches were covered with heavy snow and ice. Everything was nice and white after some fresh snow. The temperatures have been wonderfully mild – right around freezing. Only for a couple days at the very beginning of December did the temperatures drop suddenly to -15 F.

The city square is beginning to look like Christmas, too. By the end of December when the children get out of school for the winter holiday, the city square will be transformed into an “Ice City”. There will be a huge decorated tree in the center with large snow sculptures all around it. Workers will turn piles of snow into decorative snow slides for the kids. Already the frame for the large city tree is up, and branches are being put in place. Large wooden boxes are standing on the square to be filled with snow and packed solid for carving snow sculptures. Snow plows are piling up snow for the slides. The city square is really close to our apartment, and we have lots of fun playing on the snow slides during the winter. During the holidays people who own horses in Berdsk decorate their sleighs and offer one-horse open sleigh rides around the city park. We all love to go on the sleigh rides![slideshow=87]

The sad part of all this is that the tree, the slides, the sleigh rides, the presents, the cards, the special meals, the school programs – they are all for New Year’s, not Christmas. Christmas in Russia is January 7th, and it is almost an afterthought. We have work to do to tell those around us why Christmas is important!

In church we will celebrate our Savior’s birth with a festival service on January 7th as well as a children’s service on January 6th. At home we celebrate Christmas on December 25th and January 7th. December 25th is a regular working day and school day, so we will have a special supper and open presents that evening. We usually have a special meal again on January 7th and save one present for the 7th as well. Goose is the traditional meal for New Year’s in Russia, so there are plenty of geese available, and we usually have a goose for one Christmas dinner and ham for the other. The girls and I love to make Christmas cookies during December, and these days so much is available here that I think we can make just about anything we want with little trouble. We can even get peanut butter for the girls’ favorite peanut butter bars!

May God bless you this Christmas season!