Given that the Orthodox Christian Church is very prominent in Russia, Christmas is celebrated on their calendar, January 6th. Fine by us, because we celebrate Christmas beginning Dec. 25th and throughout the 12 days of Christmas. Although we've found ourselves to be a minority in doing this, even in the USA, it was wonderful to be able to actually have holiday time leading up to the Epiphany (Christmas Day for the Orthodox church). New Year celebrations start things off and build up to the big day here! And time to celebrate Christmas with friends and extended family continue for days.
Government was shut down until the 10th of January (I think it was shut down for more than a week, but don't know the exact date it shut down to be entirely to be honest). I think that it was shut down from New Years Eve through the 10th. That's some seriously celebration time. And a celebration it was! Every day there were fire works in the evening going off somewhere. Not just a stray bottle rocket in the distance either...a real display worth stopping to admire.
So how did the Duffy family do with these changes? Fabulously! We had lots of time to enjoy our gifts, one day at a time. Celebrating the 12 days of Christmas provides ample opportunity to spend time and money a little bit each day, savoring each gift and the time spent together enjoying them. Ice skates for the family was the big gift, followed by a day of ice skating. A small gift each day was fun and included an exchange of gifts among family members. And we made it to church on multiple days during our 12 day celebration, instead of just Christmas day.
A serious bonus of shopping before, during and after the 12/25 Christmas day celebrated in the USA is that we don't expend nearly as much money as we might otherwise because we are not beholden to getting everything purchased and 'done' or 'ready' by a certain day. Wrapping happens each day, as a gift is put into a reusable Christmas bag. Each child has their own bag. It's simple, effective and green (reduces waste). It worked wonderfully! This is a streamlined process that we've been refining for the last couple of years. This year with us being in Moscow, it was the most efficient yet, as wrapping paper is a bit hard to come by. So the magical bag was wonderful! Less time spent wrapping + less time spent cleaning up wrapping paper = more time spent having fun together. So there are a few insider details for those wondering how we do things in my family with 5 children.
Are you wondering why and how we came to this somewhat unusual process? Well, Vinny and I were talking about what we like and dislike about Christmas - and by Christmas, we meant the whole experience of Christmas, not specifically the religious miracle that we celebrate. We compared notes, discussing our happiest and most unpleasant memories surrounding Christmas and made some decisions about how we want our family to celebrate Christ's birth. We want to avoid the commercialized Christmas that creates greedy, materialistic, sugared-up little monsters who become incapable of focusing on anything but themselves. We want our kids to recognize the tremendous gift that was given to the world in Jesus Christ.
So we wait...
We wait to decorate, letting Advent unfold with a daily scripture and decorations bit by bit.
We wait to put our tree up until a day or two before Christmas and let decorations unfold throughout the 12 days of Christmas.
We wait for gifts and stretch out days for gifts (from brothers and sisters to each other, from parents to children, St. Nicholas gifts, etc) throughout the 12 days of Christmas.
We try very hard to let Christ be the center and everything that surrounds the celebration of his birthday to glorify Him, in patience, generosity, kindness, thoughtfulness, consideration of resources, and time spent having fun together. We want it to be like the ideal birthday party where everyone has a good time, the house doesn't get wrecked, and the birthday boy (Jesus) is happy!
I can imagine that most everyone reading this can recall a chaotic birthday party that they've been to, seen on tv, or read about. That's what we're trying to avoid in fighting what we see as the media/commercialization of Christmas. Instead, we try to focus on the Peace, Love, and Joy parts of Christmas. It was easier than we thought it would be, by stretching out the celebration days and breaking out of the Dec. 25th deadline that we were allowing to be imposed on us. The TO DO LIST for Christmas shopping, baking, gifts, wrapping, travel, etc., doesn't have to be dreaded if the time line to get things checked off is stretched out. We shouldn't have to see Christmas items in stores before Thanksgiving (sometimes just after Halloween - Thumbs DOWN) just so we can get things checked off our list. We evaluated what was on "The List", prioritized, and then scheduled according to our time line. We rejected the deadline of the BIG DAY and said yes to the 12 days of Christmas. I haven't felt like a failure for years now! What a gift! What a gift to my whole family!
It is my hope that when they are grown and in the position to decide how they would like to celebrate Christmas, that they won't feel the pressure to perform the duties on the list, but rather joyfully choose and carry out what is one their list in a way that will hopefully be pleasing to Jesus Christ.
So far, it's been a blessing to my family because we still get the joy of our watching our children in their excitement and wonder, but we get it for more days instead of a whirlwind .
There you have it - Christmas for the Duffy Family in Moscow! Hope you had a blessed Christmas and wonderful beginning to 2012!
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