Merry Christmas!
I am not a great one for celebrating Christmas, so when Maxim started asking if I was going to put up a yolka, (New Year Tree or Christmas Tree), I kept putting him off.
“Why would I want one of those?”
“It’s pretty and festive,” he replied, adding that he’d always wanted one.
When he said that the family were planning to come and “congratulate” me on the holiday on the 25th … I relented. The thought of everyone arriving, (especially the younger children), to a bare, apartment bereft of any decorations was too much to bear.
We compromised, however, as I said I didn’t want a “live” tree … they drop their needles everywhere and, anyway, they look so much better open in the open air where they belong. He agreed without too much complaint and so I sent him off to the local stores to get an artificial tree and lots of baubles and garlands.
He and Sveta, his sister, then spent a couple of hours putting it up and decorating it … and finally called me to give my blessing. I was quite surprised how well they had done in such a short space of time, but I tried not to show it.
“Not bad,” I said … but they wouldn’t let me put a damper on their spirits.
Maxim immediately reached for his camera and started snapping away … here are just a few of the pictures he took:
Maving dressed the tree, he turned his attention to the lighting, to capture the mood:
The tree ... in all it's glory
Just one of the decorations
Then he turned his attention to his regular photo model ... Sveta
and finally took this one of himself, (using the timer function on the camera)
(He quite liked that last one and has used it as his profile picture on Facebook)
No!, I didn’t want to get involved … I beat a hasty retreat.
He then went on to make a short clip, (with music from the film Polar Express):
Anyway, I trust and hope that this tree won’t suffer the ignomy of what befell the one in the main Ala Too Square on Friday/Saturday night. The winds were apparently quite strong – I say, “apparently” because I don’t know … I was well and truly asleep. In the winds the tree was blown over and left lying on the ground … you can see a short video clip of the event, captures by the live webcam feed, here … the text, (what there is of it), is in Russian, but video speaks for itself.
At first glance you may not notice that something is missing ... but click on the picture to see the video.
Oh, yes … I should say that it was back up before the day was out!
That evening - back in place!
So … all that remains for me to do is wish everybody “Season’s Greetings“, whatever mid winter festival you usually celebrate … and a Happy New Year.
Bishkek