Christmas in July

A Russian Christmas, that is.Our friends Mikhail and his mom, originally from the Ukraine (and recent US residents as of Decemeber 2005), invited us over for a Russian Christmas dinner. Their Christmas is usually January 7, 8 and 9--at which point they told me all of their holidays are great because they all last three days--however, we couldn't quite get together at that time, so we did Christmas in July.
The feast--I have so many new recipes I want to try and repeat. The first one being borscht soup. This was the first time I had the soup, which we mixed dollops of soup cream into, and it was very tasty. I put in a request for her family recipe.
For Christmas, святий клаус (that would be the Ukrainian Santa Claus--don't worry, I can't say it either), got me a jar of marinated tomatoes. This is a Ukrainian treat I've come to love and sometimes crave.
And the Chupps are off! Scarlett tried to stow away in our suitcase because she heard it was time for family vacation. We leave tomorrow to jump aboard a cruise ship for a week-(so that's why I won't be updated for that amount of time-I have an excuse this time). I'm looking forward to a fun time on the boat and good time with my family. In a few weeks we won't all be together for a while. Speaking of, Kyle leaves for Canada on August 16, so prayers should definitely start now. He's got a fun, yet really challenging, two years ahead of him.