If you get one Russian-themed Christmas book for you child this winter, get Uncle Vova's Tree, by Patricia Polacco.

This book, probably most appropriate for children 5 and up due to its length, is a sad but sweet story of the Russian Christmas traditions of Uncle Vova and his wife, Svetlana, as they practice in their home in North America.

All the traditions are in this book - the... more

All holds are off! It's the day after the day after the day after THanksgiving and my enthusiasm for all things Christmas can finally be loosed!

Whoo hoo! Merry Christmas!

I have to work up the enthusiasm because honestly, without it the Christmas season can be a bit wearying. It has been that way for the past several years - ever since my lovely husband has become an artist on our county's open studio tour. The first two weekends in December he's been out of commission - at a local Bed and Breakfast all day long, selling his photographs. I don't begrudge... more

Here's another Russian recipe for turkey, courtesy of the turkey lobby, eatturkey.com. This one looks really, really good. I mean really good. Any recipe that includes turkey, bacon, sour cream and 3 kinds of cheese cannot have anything wrong with it. I don't know how traditional this is, but whatever. Eatturkey considers it Russian, so I'm there.

This recipe is meant for a restaurant, so I'm not quite sure how many servings this is. I'm thinking 2? Since it's got 9 oz. of meat and 6 of cheese? Maybe 3 servings? Dunno. Again, if you're any kind of cook at all just use it as a general guideline. Also - note that it calls... more

Having served Thanksgiving dinner to a couple of young boys and my mom and step-dad, who happen to be vegetarian, needless to say I have mucho turkey left over at my house.

We love turkey, so it's not really a problem. Cold turkey sandwiches, turkey salad, reheated turkey and stuffing and cranberry...yum.

But in case you're already bored with all that, I've found a recipe that incorporates traditional Russian cuisine with leftover turkey: Turkey Stroganoff, courtesy of our friends at eatturkey.com. They must be some kind of turkey lobbying group, not that the turkeys are thanking them.

Anyhoo, here's... more

I'm writing about a great book that I have: The Heart of a Family: Searching America for New Traditions that Fulfill Us, by Meg Cox. Although this book seems to be out of print, I think it's a valuable book for families to know about. Traditions and rituals help give a family identity and this seems particularly important for families created by adoption. Cohesion and attachment to the family unit are valuable commodities.

Since Thursday and its accompanying turkey feast is coming fast, I thought I'd mention some suggestions the author gives for this... more

In my last post I talked a little bit about how, growing up, I didn't have a whole lot of traditions in my family. Sure, we had the turkey on Thanksgiving and a Christmas tree and cakes and presents on our birthdays (which is, I know, a whole lot more than a lot of people have and I'm thankful for it) but we didn't have any family rituals or long-lasting customs that I've carried over to my own family.

I've thought a lot about this, and a couple of years ago (probably about the same time that my first son was born) I started to figure out how I could... more

I come from a secular American family. This means that while we celebrated the traditional American holidays we never really went above and beyond. We weren't a family that reveled in tradition or customs, and there was very little we did just-because-we-do-it-every-year. We also moved a lot and didn't live near our extended family, so that piece of the puzzle wasn't there, either. Don't know what difference it would have (realistically) made if it were (except maybe more tension). All I know is that it was something I didn't have.

When I met my husband one thing I was fascinated by was that although his nuclear family is small (and not very close, I should add), his extended family... more

Gennady Spirin's The Tale of the Firebird , translated by Tatiana Popova and illustrated by Gennady Spirin, is another gorgeous Russian-themed picture book.

Spirin is a Russian-born illustrator who came to the United States in 1991 at the invitation of Philomel and Dial Press and he's done a number of beautiful books since then. The Tale of the Firebird is no exception.

The story... more

The Colors of Russia, by Shannon Zemlicka, illustrated by Jeni Reeves, is a beautiful little paperback book that teaches children about various aspects of the Russian culture (the yellow palace in Saint Petersburg, the red flag of the Communist party - as well as some history since then, the blue of Lake Baikul, the black of caviar, the gold of the Russian Orthodox church, etc.).

One thing... more

No, silly, not Thanksgiving or even Christmas, but....(drum roll please!) my 38th birthday.

I'm actually feeling a little depressed about it. Don't know why. It's not a milestone or anything. Maybe it's that to me 38 sounds pretty old.

Anyway, in a feeble attempt to bring this blog back into the realm of Russian adoption I thought I'd tell you what Russian people do on their birthdays. As far as I can tell they typically have a party and then they eat birthday pie.

Hmm. As someone whose birthday occurs on Thanksgiving day every 7 years... more