A white Russian Christmas!

[mendeleyev]

We could have started this thread two weeks ago on the 15th as that is when Orthodox Christians in the West begin the celebration of Christmas. But even on a Russian/Ukrainian forum that might have been somewhat presumptuous.

This Sunday however, 29 November, is when your lady will begin her preparation for Christmas which falls on 7 January in the East.

We'll talk about the Nativity Fast more but for now we have a special guest. We asked Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to stop in briefly to say hello to RUA members. Wow, looks like he has a special guest too--it's Grandfather Frost!


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In the photo above Grandfather Frost is showing off some of his Christmas photos to Mr Putin, who has an eye for the ladies. Rumor has it that Grandfather Frost has quite a collection of lovely lady photos in various stages of holiday attire and that should explain why Mr Putin is so intent on getting to know the book in much greater detail.


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[mendeleyev]

Christmas in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Moldova, Armenia, etc, what's it like?

Well, its very special now that folks all across the former Soviet Union are now enjoy the opportunity to celebrate it freely.  As you can imagine, the weather alone can make the holiday to be beautiful...romantic....nostalgic.

A great way to see how your lady lives is over the coming holidays.  You'll see her family, the best of Russian foods, theatre and museum exhibitions, Church services, concerts, and you'll experience the fullness of Russian traditions.

We won't ignore Ukraine either.  While many traditions are similiar there are some interesting and fun differences.

So, let's get started with just a few items which will be helpful to understand Christmas in the East a little better.

Here we go!


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Our specials guest hosts for this year's 2010 celebration of Christmas will be Grandfather Frost and his granddaughter the Snow Maiden, called Snegurochka.

What, no Santa Claus?

No. Santa doesn't service most of the Eastern world. That is the territory of Grandfather Frost. Who does a might fine job we must admit!

Oh, so they're the same old dude?

No, Grandfather Frost doesn't deliver gifts in his sleigh. He has a troika (we'll explain later) and he does like to flirt with the girls and he drinks vodka. In a limited sense he brings presents to children, however, unlike the secretive ways of Santa Claus, he often brings them in person, at the celebrations of the New Year, at New Year parties for kids by the New Year Tree. The "in-person" gifts only occur at big organized celebrations, where the gifts can be "standardized." But ask him to deliver presents down a chimney or to adults and he'll tell you to call UPS or DHL.  

By the way, he rather hates it when folks mistakenly call him "Father Frost." He's not a priest (heavens, anything but!) and he's been around long enough to earn the title of Grandfather Frost.


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Hold the phone! Did you say Christmas 2010. We have to get thru 2009 first. Nope, already did that last year, 7 January 2009. Just as you move forward half a day when flying to Russia, you'll also lose a Christmas. This Christmas in Russia will be 2010. We'll explain the calendar differences in a moment.

Other than those differences between Grandfather Frost and Santa Claus, he does love children and a beard. Does that count?

While sometimes dressed in white or red, the official (it was made so by Stalin himself) dress code for a good Grandfather Frost is blue. You'll see the Snow Maiden in blue a lot, too.


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We should perhaps make sure we have the dates down pat first.  And the order of the holidays.

You know how we kind of run Christmas and New Year's together in countries like the USA, Canada, the UK?  Well, magnify that several times in Russia.  That time of the year turns into one big long holiday, normally decreed by the President and employees (except in essential services) get a very long holiday, paid, with their families.

First off let's look at dates:

- The Russian New Year comes first.  It's the biggest holiday of the year, by far.
- Christmas follows closely behind on January 7.

For those wondering why Christmas is January 7 it's really rather simple.  Historically Christmas was always celebrated in January.  However several hundred years ago a Roman Pope adjusted the calendar to catch up for "leap years" over the several previous centuries.  All calendars in the Western world were adjusted.  The Patriarchs in the East (over which the Pope has no authority) felt it better to leave the calendar alone.  

The Roman Catholic change of the calendar moved western Christmas from January up earlier into December.  By the way it also changed the date of Easter, but we're talking about Christmas here.  It doesn't mean that the west is right and the east is wrong or vice versa.  We're just using two different calendars, thats all.

And just in case you're wondering, you don't give gifts on Christmas day. Just as a tree is a New Year tree, gifts are given on New Year's day and called "New Year gifts."


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[mendeleyev]

Soon we'll explore the world of Russian holiday traditions, music and food, but first we complete our cast of Russian New Year and Christmas characters with the traditional story of Babushka.


Traditional Russian Christmas story of "Babushka"

Once in a small Russian town, there lived a women called Babushka. Babushka always had work to do sweeping, polishing, dusting and cleaning. Her house was the best kept, most tidy house in the whole village. Her garden was beautiful and her cooking was wonderful. One evening she was busy dusting and cleaning, so busy that she didn't hear all the villagers outside in the village square talking about and looking at the new star in sky.

She had heard about the new star but thought, 'All this fuss about a star! I don't even have the time to look because I'm so behind with my work. I must work all night!' So, she missed the star as it shone brightly, high overhead. She also missed the little line of twinkling lights coming down towards the village at dawn. She didn't hear the sounds of the pipes and drums. She missed the voices and whispers of the villagers wondering whether the lights were an army or a procession of some sort. She missed the sudden quiet of the villagers and even the footsteps coming up the path to her door. But the one thing that she couldn't miss was the loud knocking on her front door!

'Now what is that?' she wondered, opening the door. Babushka gaped in amazement. There were three kings at her door with one of their servants! 'My masters need a place to rest,' the servant said, 'and yours is the best house in the village.' 'You want to stay here?' asked Babushka. 'Yes, it would only be until night falls and the star appears again,' the servant replied. Babushka gulped. 'Come in, then,' she said.

The kings were very pleased when they saw all of the of the home-baked bread, pies and cakes. She dashed about, serving them, asking lots of questions. 'Have you come a long way?' 'A very long way,' sighed Caspar. 'Where are you going?' 'We're following the new star,' said Melchior. 'But where?' The kings didn't know, but they believed that it would lead the to a new-born king, a King of Earth and Heaven. 'Why don't you come with us?' asked Balthasar. 'You could bring him a gift like we do. I bring gold, and my colleagues bring spices and perfumes.' 'Oh, I'm not sure that he would welcome me,' said Babushka, 'and what could I bring for a gift? Toys! I know I could bring a toy. I've got a cupboard full of toys,' she said sadly. 'My baby son, died when he was small.' Balthasar stopped her as she went to tidy the kitchen up. 'This new king could be your king too. Come with us when the star appears tonight,' he said. 'I'll think about it,' sighed Babushka.

As the kings slept, Babushka tidied up as quietly as she could. 'What a lot of extra work there was!' she thought, 'and this new king, what a funny idea, to go off with the kings to find him.'

Babushka shook herself. There was no time for dreaming, all this washing-up and putting away had to be done. 'Anyway,' she thought, 'how long would she be away? What would she wear? What about the gift?' She sighed. 'There is so much to do. The house will have to be cleaned when they've gone. I couldn't just leave it.' Suddenly it was night-time again and the star was in the sky. 'Are you ready, Babushka?' asked Balthasar. 'I'll come tomorrow,' Babushka called, 'I must just tidy here first and find a gift.'

The kings went away sadly. Babushka ran back into her house, keen to get on with her work.

Finally, she went to the small cupboard, opened the door and gazed at all the toys. But they were very dusty. They weren't fit for a baby king. They would all need to be cleaned. She cleaned all of the toys until each one shined. Babushka looked through the window. It was morning! The star had came and gone. The kings would have found somewhere else to rest by now. She could easily catch them up, but she felt so tired. She had to sleep. The next thing she knew, she was awake and it was dark outside. She had slept all day! She quickly pulled on her cloak, packed the toys in a basket and ran down the path the kings had taken.

Everywhere she asked 'Have you seen the kings?' 'Oh yes,' everyone told her, 'we saw them. They went that way.' For day Babushka followed the trail of the kings and the villages got bigger and became towns. But Babushka never stopped. Then she came to a city. 'The palace,' she thought. 'That's where the royal baby would be born.' 'No, there is no royal baby here,' said the palace guard when she asked him. 'What about three kings?' asked Babushka. 'Oh yes, they came here, but they didn't stay long. They were soon on their journey.' 'But where to?' asked Babushka. 'Bethlehem, that was the place. I don't imagine why. It's a very poor place. That's where they went.' replied the guard. She set off towards Bethlehem. It was evening when Babushka arrived at Bethlehem and she had been travelling for a long time. She went into the local inn and asked about the kings. 'Oh yes,' said the landlord, 'the kings were here two days ago. They were very excited, but they didn't even stay the night.' 'And what about a baby?' Babushka cried. 'Yes there was.' Said the landlord. The kings asked about a baby, too.' When he saw the disappointment in Babushka's eyes, he stopped. 'If you'd like to see where the baby was,' he said quickly, 'it was across the yard there. I couldn't offer the couple anything better at the time. My inn was really full, so they had to go in the stable.'

Babushka followed him across the yard. 'Here's the stable,' he said. He left her in the stable. 'Babushka?' Someone was calling her from the doorway. He looked kindly at her. She wondered if he knew where the family had gone. She knew now that the baby king was the most important thing in the world to her. 'They have gone to Egypt, and safety,' he told Babushka. 'And the kings have returned to their countries. But one of them told me about you. I am sorry but you are too late. It was Jesus that they found, the world's Saviour.'

Babushka was very sad that she had missed Jesus and it is said that Babushka is still looking for him.

(Story credit:  www.whychristmas.com)


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[sparky114]

Great Mendy

Well yes this weekend we need to start doing things for Christmas, as i was reliably informed a couple of days that we have 2 Christmases to plan and organise one here in the UK and one when we will be in Russia

So I will enjoy this thread


Mark

[Chris]

I had this as my Avatar last Christmas


This is Bull of Frost (Chys Khan), which is Yakutian colleague of Russian Grandpa Frost (Ded Moroz) and Santa Claus.

Bull of Frost dwells in Tomtor, Oymiakon ulus, which is the coldest place in Siberia.

Winter lasts for 9 months in Tomtor, where the lowest temperature registered in Tomtor is -71,2 degrees Celsius.

Due to the climate, there are no bulls or cows there.  

Scholars confirm that Bull of Frost is actually Mammoth, which is important personage in shamanic traditions.

For example, a large wooden representation of Mammoth was in a western "gallery" of Evenk shaman's tent etc.

Recently Yakutian Bull of Frost-Mammoth befriended Russian Grandpa Frost (Ded Moroz) and became popular in Russia  

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[mendeleyev]

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There are two times every year in Russia when the menu at the Kremlin restaurants, the cafeterias at the Federal Duma, and the schools across Russia make dramatic culinary adjustments. Even Western restaurant chains like TGIF, etc, adopt some elements of a Russian 40 day fast at Christmas and Easter.


Western Orthodox Christians (Christmas on 25 December)
The 40 day Nativity fast began on 15 November and ends on 24 December.


Eastern Orthodox Christians (Christmas on 7 January)
The 40 day Nativity Fast is from Sunday, 29 November to 6 January.


The Nativity Fast is one of the four Canonical Fasting Seasons in the Church year. This is a joyous fast in anticipation of the Nativity of Christ. That is the reason it is less strict than other fasting periods. The fast is divided into two periods. The 1st period is November 15th through December 19th when the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, dairy, fish, wine, and oil) is observed. There is dispensation given for wine and oil on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Similarly, fish, wine, and oil are permitted on Saturdays and Sundays. The 2nd period is December 20th through 24th when the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, dairy, fish, wine, and oil) is observed. There is dispensation given for wine and oil only on Saturday and Sunday during this period.


Here are the guidelines:
Meat, Dairy, Fish, Wine, and Oil are generally off limits except for certain days.

Abstinence includes refraining from the food and drink mentioned above, as well as from smoking. The Eucharistic Fast means abstaining from at least the previous midnight for communing at a morning Liturgy.


Acceptable exemptions to the fast:
- When given an exemption by a priest.
- When traveling.
- When a guest in someone's home.
- When guests are in your home.
- For legitimate health reasons.
- Young children are exempt.
- Elderly are exempt (although often they are the most pious).
- When fasting would call undue attention--the fast is for personal discipline, not to make others uncomfortable.
- When a woman is pregnant.


Do Not Fast between December 25 and January 5 (even on Wed and Fri); if you are pregnant or nursing a newborn; during serious illness; without prayer; without alms-giving; according to your own will without guidance from your spiritual father.


What items do you give up during a fast:
- Meat of any kind (except fish on certain days).
- Oil in cooking.
- Wine, beer, vodka....any kind of alcohol.
- Dairy products.
- Egg products.
- All parties and celebrations are delayed until after 7 January.
- Some couples give up sex completely, others curtail the frequency during the fast.
- It is a good time to try to give up unhealty habits like smoking, swearing, etc.


"Wow, this is strict!" some will say.  So,

What is the purpose of the Orthodox fast:
The purpose of fasting is to focus on the things that are above, the Kingdom of God. It is a means of putting on virtue in reality, here and now. Through it we are freed from dependence on worldly things. We fast faithfully and in secret, not judging others, and not holding ourselves up as an example.

Fasting in itself is not a means of pleasing God. Fasting is not a punishment for our sins. Nor is fasting a means of suffering and pain to be undertaken as some kind of atonement. Christ already redeemed us on His Cross. Salvation is a gift from God that is not bought by our hunger or thirst. We fast to be delivered from carnal passions so that God's gift of Salvation may bear fruit in us.

We fast and turn our eyes toward God in His Holy Church. Fasting and prayer go together.
Fasting is not irrelevant. Fasting is not obsolete, and it is not something for someone else. Fasting is from God, for us, right here and right now. Most of all, we should not devour each other. We ask God to “set a watch and keep the door of our lips.”

- Christ fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, eating only fruits and berries.  He spent the time in prayer.
- The fasts are designed to assist one to be more like Christ, spending more time in prayer.
- Every time you feel hungry, instead of eating, say a prayer asking God for discipline in your spiritual life.
- Discipline...in the Orthodox faith one should try to discipline the flesh (body).  The flesh leads to sin but the spirit leads to everlasting life.
- Such a prolonged discipline leads to a very joyful celebration to the feast of Christ's nativity on Christmas day!


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[mendeleyev]

Here is just a quick sampling of restaurants in Russia & Ukraine which adopt a fasting menu during holidays:


Moscow

Traktir na Parkovoy
Phone: (017) 203 69 91      
Address: Pobediteley Ave., 11
Open: 12:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.


The Louisiana Steak and Grill
Pyatnitskaya St., 30, block 4
Phone 7-095-9514244  
Types of Cuisine: European, Mexican  
Metro Station Tretyakovskaya, Novokuznetskaya
Near Tretyakov Gallery
Average Bill 50-70 USD


China Town Restaurant
Mira Pr., 12, building 1
Phone 7-095-1055098, 2076252  
Types of Cuisine Chinese, Uighur  
Metro Station Prospekt Mira, Suharevskaya
Locations Sadovoye Koltso
Average Bill 10-20 USD


Starlight Diner
Bolshaya Sadovaya Ulitsa, #16a
Metro Mayakovskaya. Tel: 290-9638. Open 24 hours.
Korovy Val, #9a, metro Oktyabrskaya. Tel: 959-8919. Open 24 hours.





St Petersburg

Onegin
Sadovaya St., 11
Phone  +7-812-1178384  +7-812-1178384  
Types of Cuisine Russian, European  
Metro Station Nevsky Prospect, Gostiny Dvor
Locations Savior-on-the-Blood, Kazan Cathedral, Summer Garden, Nevsky Prospect, Mikhailovsky Castle
Average Bill 70-100 USD




Other locations

Russian Railways will be featuring a Nativity Lenten menu on all trains across Russia.

Beginning Sunday, 29 November Aeroflot is offering passengers a choice of a regular or Nativitiy fasting meal.

All TGI Friday's restaurants across Russia add a fasting menu during the season.




Government

According to ITAR-TASS, as with tradition all restaurants, cafeterias and cafes at the Kremlin, both houses of Parliament and the White House government buildings all have special menus for the Nativity fast.


In large cities like Moscow, St Peter, and Kyiv it's common for many of the upscale high ticket restaurants for chefs to participate in culinary exhibitions featuring dishes created from fasting acceptable ingredients.

We'll add to this list as this is only a sampler to start.

If traveling over the holidays you'll find that markets will sell meats, etc, but inventories are reduced accordingly as the number of Russians who fast each year is on a dramatic upswing according to sources like Vladimir Malyshkov, head of Russia's Consumer Market Services department and reports by news organizations such as RIA Novosti.


RUA Culinary recipes/menu ideas for fasting:

http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php?topic=2339.0



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If fasting is not your thing, don't worry as you'll have most of the usual options.

[mendeleyev]

Below: Police buses parked on Mokhovaya Street bring in OMOH troops for security at the Red Square celebration of New Year's Eve.


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(Note: not all the recipes shown below are "fast safe" but are certainly very tasty.)


From Irina Renner in Long Island, USA:


Russian Christmas Coffee Cake - a Christmas Morning Treat
Ingredients:1 cup sugar
Filling and Topping
 
1/2 lb. butter (or margarine)
 3/4 cup sugar
1 pint sour cream
 4 tablespoons cinnamon
3 unbeaten eggs
 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
2 1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
 
 
Preparation: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Cream together sugar and margarine. Mix in the sour cream. Add the unbeaten eggs, one at a time. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Combine the flour mixture gradually into the butter/egg mixture. The dough will become stiff. Spoon half the dough into a well-greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Mix together the topping ingredients: sugar, cinnamon, and nuts. Sprinkle 3/4 of the topping/filling over the first half of the dough. Add the remaining dough and sprinkle rest of topping. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Cool 1 hour before removing from the pan.


Russian Christmas Tea Cakes
Ingredients:
1 cup margarine softened
 2 cup flour
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
 1/2 cup pecans, or walnuts chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 confectioners' sugar
 
Preparation: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream the margarine, sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy. Mix in the flour and pecans. Chill for 2 hours. Pinch off small pieces of dough and roll into 1-inch balls. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in a 375-degree oven until very lightly brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Roll in confectioners' sugar before serving. Store in an airtight container. Makes 3 dozen.



Russian Spice Tea - Christmas Holiday favorite
Ingredients: 3 lemons
 2 quarts weak tea
3 oranges
 2 tbsp. whole cloves
1 pt. pineapple juice
 2 c. sugar
 
Preparation: Squeeze juice from the lemons and oranges. Pour some boiling water over the cloves and let stand for 10 minutes. Strain the juice and cloves. Add sugar and mix well. Add the tea and heat to boiling. Serve hot.



Instant Version - "Russian" Spice Tea:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup instant Nestea tea - unsweetened
 1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 1/2 cups orange-flavored TANG
 1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup instant Nestea Iced Tea Mix - Lemon flavored sweetened
 1 tsp ground cloves
 
Preparation: Combine all ingredients in large container and mix well. To serve, use 2 to 3 teaspoons of mix per cup and add hot/boiling water



[ IMAGE NOT SHOWN - GUESTS CANNOT VIEW ATTACHED IMAGES ] Ukrainian girls invite you to celebrate!


From the Mendeleyev Moscow table:

Mushroom-Stuffed Potatoes

First, find the biggest potatoes in the sack, so that there will be room for plenty of mushroom filling. Peel and cut potatoes in half, and boil them until they aren't quite done.

After the potatoes cool a bit, carve out the centres and set the cut-out portions aside for use in other dishes, such as potato pancakes. The filling consists of chopped, sauteed mushrooms, embellished with some finely chopped onion.

For the topping mix 3/4 cup of sour cream with 2 tablespoons of flour, 2 tablespoons of oil, and 1/3 cup of grated cheese.

Then bake the mushroom-stuffed potatoes in a 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes, and then add the topping mixture for another 15 minutes.

(When fasting you may substitute the sour cream and cheese for non-dairy versions.)


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Above: if you've been following the RUA tour of Moscow you recognize the Lenin Library in this photo of the New Year tree near Manezhnaya Plaza.

[mendeleyev]

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Some fairy tales are international. Here is the short 2 minute story of the 3 pigs and the big bad wolf.....Russian Christmas style. Very funny, especially the ending: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oel1wr0ZdqU






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All I want for Christmas New Year is a vodka flask -- with a red star naturally!

[mendeleyev]

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As you can see above, Snegurochka the Snow Maiden wants us to know a little more about how trees fit into the celebration of the New Year and Christmas season.

First, Russians do decorate a “New Year Tree” (instead of Christmas tree) and there are of course similarities to Western Christmas trees. The Russian name is ёлка, “YOL-ka.” Remember the order of the Cyrillic alphabet where e is "yeh" and ё is "yoh" to help you get started with saying this fun Russian name.

To get ourselves in the mood for learning about a Russian New Year tree we need to sing a little song. So, learn this детские песни Елочка (children's song Yolichka) by heart and then return to this page.  Follow this link to the song.


Good, now lets prepare our decorations for the tree. Of course we'll have the usual--decorations made of plastic and glass from previous years, and we'll add some fruit, yep real fruit (usually citrus), and some confetti (candy) tied on strings. That will take a while so find a seat at the table, grab some string and fruit and candy and get to work!


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Christmas itself is not a commercial holiday. Gifts are given (usually 1 or 2 per person) on New Years Day. They are considered to be “New Years Gifts.”


A few days before the New Year families buy a New Year’s tree and bring it home to decorate. Now we should warn you that while they are fur trees, a normal tree would be way too big in a small Russian apartment so it is common to use branches instead of the entire tree in many homes.

The photos of this full size tree are from a dacha and most dacha's are larger inside as they are country homes instead of small city apartments. A full size tree fits easily in most dachas.


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[froid]

Hey Mendy...I hope you are going to go over the traditional New Years and Christmas meals.  This will be my first Christmas with Mila and Kirill and discussions about the "meal" have started and I could use some help and info. 

[mendeleyev]

Most certainly, Froid. I think you have two experts in your home already, but we'll cover it soon. 

[mendeleyev]

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The national tree of Russia is the white birch tree. However Russians and Ukrainians use a green pine tree just as is common in the West, for the New Year tree. Perhaps one of the favourite Christmas songs in Ukraine and in Russia is the Pine Tree Song.  It is this tree that makes up the "New Years Tree" found in homes and all over the towns.


В лесу родилась ёлочка,               A pinetree was born in the forest

В лесу она росла,                             It was grown in the forest,

Зимой и летом стройная,             It was slender in winter and in  summer

Зелёная была.                                 It was green.

 

Метель ей пелп песенку:               The storm sang a song to her:

Спи, ёлочка, бай-бай,                     'Sleep little pinetree, bay-bay,

Мороз снежком укутывал:           The freeze shields by snow:

Смотри, не замерзай!                   Watch out so as not to freeze.'

 

Трусишка зайка серенький          A fearful rabbit is

Под ёлочкой скакал.                       Jumping on the pinetree,

Порою волк, сердитый волк,         Sometimes a wolf, the angry wolf

Рысцою пробегал.                           Carelessly runs away.

 

Снуг по лесу частому                      Snow covers the forever forest

Под холодом скрипие,                     Under the cold roar,

Лошадка мохноногая                      The horse with hairy legs

Торопиться, бежит.                      Hurriedly runs.

 

Везёт лошадка дровеньки,             The horse is carrying the tree

А в дровнях старичок,                    An old man is sitting on the tree

Срубил он нашу ёлочку                    He cuts down our pinetree

Под самый корешок.                       From its stock.

 

Телерь тв здесь, нарядная,           Now here you are, solemnly,

На праздник к нам пришла            Come with us to celebrate

И много, много радости                  And lots of happiness was

Детишкам принесла.                      Carried by you to children.



Differences in tree decorations:
Sometimes you can't tell the difference between a Russian News Years Tree and a western Christmas Tree, but sometimes it is possible.  Generally, and there will certain be exceptions, but generally the Ukrainian and Russian decorations will run up and down the tree, vertically.  Often in the west we tend to wrap decorations around the tree which slowly make their way around the tree from top to bottom.


It is normal in the home of an elderly pensioner to find a branch of a pine tree serving as their New Year's tree.  It is all they could afford.  In general Ukrainians and Russians don't like artificial trees.  They have a keen sense of nature and most would rather have a small and imperfect real tree than a perfect artificial replacement.  

Although the times are changing and young families sometimes do purchase an artificial tree.  Still however the market for artificial trees, while growing, is very small.

It is very common for News Years trees to be only a small height.  Rather than free-standing on the floor, most trees sit on a table top.



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[mendeleyev]

Each year the city in which your lady lives erects a large New Year tree. Mega cities have many such trees, but usually the main one is at the city square. The formal lighting of this tree is a big deal and families enjoy going to the square to watch on the evening when the tree's decorations and lights are first unveiled.


Here is the lighting of the city New Year's Tree in Kyiv:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A0BvbH3Czo



Here is the New Year's tree in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jAnIF-PFDU



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[froid]

Oh I know I have experts available...but I want to put some extra thought and effort into merging my own family traditions with the traditions from Russia as well.

For instance the Finnish thing we do is always on Christmas Eve and involves a ham.  Involves me dressed up as Joulupoki and visiting friends bringing them shots of cranberry liqeur, and the special pig candle. 

The Newfie more English thing is of course the turkey on Christmas day and all the usual things that go with that.  I BBQ the turkey even.  Mmmm.

And then because some family and friends end up travelling over Christmas we have our official Christmas BBQ in two weeks so that everyone can attend before we all split up and fly to different destinations. 

So I am just learning now what Russian things consist of so I can merge those with everything we already do.