Susanna’s Blog

Juliana got a phone call from Santa!  Just a recording, free from Cincinnati bell, but Juliana was amazed! 

Yesterday, we went to the Baiers and saw my cousin Zoya, her husband and daughter, Harriett! 

Then we went the the Oakleys, look at all those presents!

I saved the best for last, a video from first thing this morning!

Juliana and Emma painted this morning.  Messy, but fun!

We went downtown on Saturday to take advantage of all the fun FREE Christmas things!  We saw Santa, took a carriage ride, and John and Juliana went iceskating! 

In the Orthodox Church, we remember St. Nicholas today.  Most people celebrate this day by filling stockings or shoes with gifts, but why?  The most common explanation for gift giving on his day is because it is said that a poor man was going to sell his daughters to slavery since he could not afford dowries, and so he received bags of gold from St. Nicholas.  St. Nicholas also gave all his belongings to the poor when he was a monk.  Here is a brief story of his life:

Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia
This glorious saint, celebrated even today throughout the entire world, was the only son of his eminent and wealthy parents, Theophanes and Nona, citizens of the city of Patara in Lycia. Since he was the only son bestowed on them by God, the parents returned the gift to God by dedicating their son to Him. St. Nicholas learned of the spiritual life from his uncle Nicholas, Bishop of Patara, and was tonsured a monk in the Monastery of New Zion founded by his uncle. Following the death of his parents, Nicholas distributed all his inherited goods to the poor, not keeping anything for himself. As a priest in Patara, he was known for his charity, even though he carefully concealed his charitable works, fulfilling the words of the Lord: Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth (Matthew 6:3). When he gave himself over to solitude and silence, thinking to live that way until his death, a voice from on high came to him: “Nicholas, for your ascetic labor, work among the people, if thou desirest to be crowned by Me.” Immediately after that, by God’s wondrous providence, he was chosen archbishop of the city of Myra in Lycia. Merciful, wise and fearless, Nicholas was a true shepherd to his flock. During the persecution of Christians under Diocletian and Maximian, he was cast into prison, but even there he instructed the people in the Law of God. He was present at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea [325] and, out of great zeal for the truth, struck the heretic Arius with his hand. For this act he was removed from the Council and from his archiepiscopal duties, until the Lord Christ Himself and the Most-holy Theotokos appeared to several of the chief hierarchs and revealed their approval of Nicholas. A defender of God’s truth, this wonderful saint was ever bold as a defender of justice among the people. On two occasions, he saved three men from an undeserved sentence of death. Merciful, truthful, and a lover of justice, he walked among the people as an angel of God. Even during his lifetime, the people considered him a saint and invoked his aid in difficulties and in distress. He appeared both in dreams and in person to those who called upon him, and he helped them easily and speedily, whether close at hand or far away. A light shone from his face as it did from the face of Moses, and he, by his presence alone, brought comfort, peace and good will among men. In old age he became ill for a short time and entered into the rest of the Lord, after a life full of labor and very fruitful toil, to rejoice eternally in the Kingdom of Heaven, continuing to help the faithful on earth by his miracles and to glorify his God. He entered into rest on December 6, 343.

We filled Juliana and Emma’s stockings last night with a clementine, chocolate coins, granola bar, little books, shoes for Juliana and a toy for Emma.  We got carried away, next year I think we should just stick with the chocolate coins. 

What strange weather today!  It poured all morning and then got very warm, so we took a nice long walk!

Here’s a picture of Juliana in ballet class yesterday!

Juliana is practicing singing Silent Night

Singing to Emma!  Not much of a baby…but cute.

Dancing to one of Emma’s favorite songs “Once Upon a Dream.”  Emma sings “I know you…”

Sometimes I cook using a recipe, but I prefer to throw things together and hope for the best.  Yesterday, I made vegan alfredo sauce, which I have a recipe for, but didn’t have the ingredients to follow that recipe, so I improvised.  Here’s what I did, in a food processor I mixed one container of silken tofu, about 1/2 cup of cashew butter, 1/4 of a small onion, 3-4 garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon dried basil, salt, pepper and a little olive oil.  As it blended, I added water to make it creamy.  I warmed in a saucepan and served it with broccoli over linguini (whole wheat).  I wish I cooked like that everyday.  Healthy food can taste great when done right.  I hate tofu, by the way.  I only like it when it’s prepared so that it’s unrecognizable.

We got a Christmas tree yesterday!  What a busy day - first church, then a meeting, then the getting the tree and dinner at Red Lobster.  I got an early Christmas present from my in-laws…a camera!

Here is our tree before John cut it down.

Juliana decorating.

And Emma eye to eye with this soldier.

I’ve been sick all week and am so exhausted!  I can’t feel sorry for myself because this is nothing compared to what others have endured.  The kids are healthy and I’m glad for that.  I never gave this much thought before, but mothers can’t call in sick.  I want to sleep, at least sit on the couch and relax, but I can’t.  Someone is hungry, thirsty, needs ducky.  Eight more hours and John will be home, then another two hours until bedtime….so I will rest in 10 hours.

I’ll mail these out soon!  I have no stamps right now.  

We have lots of Christmas figurines from John’s grandpa who passed away earlier this year.  The girls LOVE them!  We have a little town on top of our bookshelf and a few more on the mantle – out of the kids reach.  I took some down for Juliana to play with today and she arranged the people in a line around the church and said “look at all the people going to church today!”  She has been calling all her baby dolls Jesus lately, wrapping them in swaddling clothes, literally – she takes her own shirts or nightgowns and wraps them around the babies.  A few weeks ago, I was getting frustrated that she was crazy about Santa and presents, so I told her the Nativity story a few times.  I think we got a little carried away.

When Juliana turned one, she got a book from her uncle Mike “Japanese Children’s Favorite Stories” and she loves it.  The stories are great, I really enjoy it too!  We have a cd of the book, and for the last 30 minutes Juliana has been sitting in the middle of the living room silent, listening to the stories.  I’m excited, I’ll have to get out other books on cd!  I can’t read to her today, I tried, but I lost my voice and whispering wasn’t fun to listen to. 

This reminds me of another book I have yet to read – Russian Fairy Tales!  The Glinsky’s gave it to us when they moved.  I love books from other countries!  A few weeks ago, I started a book called “Winter in Kandahar” which takes place in Afghanistan, all about war so far and I’m reading it very slowing.  I don’t have much time alone to read.  It’s very distracting around here.

I can’t upload pictures to my blog anymore, all I get is a box with a red X.  For the past month or two I’ve been uploading them to my personal site first, then linking.  Now, our photo site is down and I can’t put any pictures up. 

I lost my voice, although I’m feeling so much better now than I was first thing this morning.  It’s really hard to take care of kids when I can only whisper to them.  It’s good practice, I guess…but absolutely frustrating!

She’s wearing a cloth diaper.  This one is pink and purple camo, so cute!  I got 4 different kinds of diaper covers and will use old fashioned prefolds.  I am still waiting for diaper liners in the mail.  I’m excited to try them, they are suppost to hold the poop and be flushed, so I won’t have to scrap poop off the cloth. 

This is the first time Emma has painted!  She usually just wants to eat the paint, which she did (see around her mouth) but she made a nice painting too and I framed it and put it on the wall!