This year we celebrated New Years Ukrainian-style – with lots of festivity and food that lasts all night. We spent the evening with the children at the Good Shepherd Center. When we arrived at 7:30, kids were running around wild with excitement, and educators were setting up and assembling the evening’s activities behind locked doors. The theme was travel, so all of us, dressed in an assortment of “travel” outfits, assembled in the gym at 10 p.m., surrounded by tents. The night began with a talent show, which ended with a devotional and prayer, about the time when the sky outside was exploding with fireworks at midnight. After that, we headed to the cafeteria for a special holiday dinner (the “first meal of the year”), after which everyone lit sparklers. Then came a team competition activity, where groups of kids ran from one activity to another, gathering points and having fun in the process. These ranged from riding tricycles through an obstacle course to karaoke to target practice, which Dave and I led. After that it was back to the cafeteria for a “sweet table” laden with goodies. Between each activity there was plenty of time for running around, wrestling and general mayhem. The atmosphere would have kept even the sleepiest reveler awake. At about 4:30 a.m., kids brought their blankets and pillows to the gym and we all crashed in front of the movie screen for some sort of animated movie. I doubt anyone stayed awake to see past the first 10 minutes, let alone to the end. Dave and I made it home around 7 a.m. A student told me the other day that the New Year doesn’t start for him until Jan. 2, because he spends most of Jan. 1 sleeping, and now I can identify with him.
Laura
