On December 6th, Romanians celebrate Sfântul Nicolae. Children are to leave their boots out the night of Dec. 5th and Sfântul Nicolae visits during the night and leaves sweets and treats for children that have been good, or twigs for children that haven't:). We were also told that he only leaves treats if the boots are clean, so Carter spent about 30 minutes meticulously cleaning his boots:
This tradition is similar to our idea of stockings, and while it is an Orthodox tradition, we wanted Carter to experience this piece of Romanian culture. Especially since he's with Romanian children for Kindergarten - he was excited to know what they were talking about at school the next day (even if he couldn't understand much).
Wednesday is our day off from language class each week. Carter still goes to school that day, but two weeks ago we kept him with us and took a day trip to a nearby town in the mountains called Sinaia. It was nice to get out of the city and we also got to see some snow!
(Not the best picture, but for those that keep asking for "belly pics", you can see that I can no longer zip my coat over the ginormous belly!)
Ryan and the kids in front of Castelul Peleș
This is a beautiful castle nestled in the mountains, it was especially nice with the snow-capped mountains around!
Carter enjoyed touring the castle, but also would have been happy to stay outside and throw snowballs all day:).
Another highlight this month was seeing Carter's Christmas play with his Gradinița class. It was all in Romanian (with the exception of a poem in English and a few English Christmas songs), but Carter did a great job and had a lot of fun. They started with a Romanian dance the class had practiced, Carter had a huge smile on his face the whole time!
Then the kids did a skit - it was hard for us to follow as well since our Romanian is quite basic, but it was fun to watch. Carter had a few lines in Romanian and also recited a poem in Romanian. He did a great job and got a special applause from the parents!:)
After the play, the kids got a surprise visit from "Moș Crăciun." He came with his list and some presents for each child. He called them up by name and talked with them for a bit. Carter was called last and was pleasantly surprised when Moș Crăciun spoke to him in English - "MOM, did you know that Santa speaks English AND Romanian?!" It was a fun evening!
Another highlight was last night when we were visited by carolers! A group of youth from a Romanian Baptist church came and sang several Romanian Christmas songs. (The church is the one that our babysitter, Angela, and our temporary neighbors attend.) They were amazing! It was a bit late when they came, so Kamryn had already gone to bed and amazingly slept through it all! It was such a special treat, we are thankful they made the effort to visit us!
We were also hoping to take a small trip for a couple of days to somewhere in the mountains next week after Christmas, but my doctor strongly advised against that! That was the first time that I was forced to consider the possibility that our new little one might decide to arrive early, and honestly that thought kind of freaked us out! We are trusting that God's timing is best and that the baby when come at just the right time, but are also praying that it waits a few more weeks - we are not quite mentally prepared yet:).
All in all, it has been a great month! We definitely miss being with our friends and families back in the States, but are thankful for the friends God has already given us here and the special family memories we have made.
Thank you for posting this. I laughed and cried my way through it. I love you so much. Merry Christmas!!! MOM ;-)
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