Being Orthodox makes this Christmas nothing significant for me and being brought up in Russia with its Soviet past makes even Orthodox Christmas nothing significant either. Communists didn't like the fact that people believed in god and celebrated Christmas but they couldn't eliminate the holiday completely so they just replaced it. Basically, it's the same thing just on a different day and without any religion being behind it. Christmas tree is called New Year tree, Russian version of Santa Claus comes on the New Year night instead of Christmas eve. People give presents, eat a lot and celebrate pretty much the same way.
But living in a country where Christmas is one of the most important holidays makes me follow the local traditions and celebrate with everybody the way they do it. So we went to Ylläs last Saturday and came back today. I'm back with a bottle of Glen Parker Single Malt Scotch Whisky, a bottle of Absolut Disco Limited Edition Vodka, Leatherman Multi-Tool and 800 grams of Fazer chocolate sweets. Nice. I'll have something to do before the school starts in the middle of January. :)
On Sunday I went to slopes to snowboard and it was no good. Lack of snow felt even in Ylläs. Slopes were icy and hard. I hope this spring it will be better.
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You know.. I'm Orthodox, and we do have Christmas this time of the year :)
Make no mistake - Orthodoxy can take many forms.. from Russian to Greek, and Romanian in the middle.
I'm saying specifically Romanian, because we're the only ones using using a Romance language in divine liturgy, and we have other unique features as well ;)
Merry Xmas, Dmitry! Be good to yourself and to others. And enjoy the New Year's eve party ;)
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