Decorating a Christmas tree the day before New Year’s at 2
in the morning feels a bit…well, weird. The
reason for this odd convergence of events in time is the fact that we are
jet-lagging in Ukraine.
Events: It’s Dec. 31 and later today we’ll celebrate New
Year’s Eve at church. A few days ago (I
don’t know what counts as day or as night) we arrived back in Ukraine after
spending nearly 5 weeks in the States for a growth and renewal retreat. A tagline to that event was celebrating “Grandma
and Grandpa’s Christmas” with family in Grand Rapids.
Time: It’s 3:34am. George is writing his sermon as I
type. Abigail is watching cartoons. Matthew and Abigail just helped me decorate the
Christmas tree. Now for those of you not
familiar with Ukrainian traditions, this needs some explanation. Here in Ukraine a tree is decorated for New
Year’s. We aren’t putting our tree up
for this reason, however, but because Christmas in the Ukrainian Orthodox
calendar falls on January 7. As a church
we’ve decided to observe Christmas on the day officially recognized and most
commonly celebrated as Christmas. Thus,
having already done a bit of Christmas celebrations in the US, we are now
gearing up for Christmas here in Ukraine.
But I must admit, I feel disoriented by it all. I can’t make heads or tails of what day it
is, what time it is, what holiday it is, and come tomorrow, I will get confused
about what year it is. If only I could
get some sleep!
