Merry Christmas (In June?!?)

So, the last two days have been pretty much par for the course.  Nothing different to report on the mornings, the walks to and from the orphanage, or the after-visit suppers.  But, Ruslan and I started a new topic of conversation yesterday at the orphanage which we repeated and continued today.  The topic, which I'm pretty sure has become one of Ruslan's favorites, is.........(please read the following word with a whispered voice)..........Santa.

It all started yesterday while we were sitting at our table doing some crafts.  Ruslan really likes to hum or sing while he does crafts/writes/colors/plays/walks/you get the point.  His song-of-choice had been a song he created where he sings (or occassionally hums) "Daniel Ruslan Kochies" to different rhythms and notes.  Yesterday, without warning, the song was different.  He was humming something I'd heard before.  Something from my past.  Something that I couldn't quite put a name to.  Then it hit me.  It was Jingle Bells.  I probably should have realized it earlier, but the place I was in...and the company I was with...and the time of year...just didn't add up.  I went out on a limb and started singing the words while he hummed the melody.  This immediatly caused him to stop what he was doing, look up at me, and smile.  Then he started bobbing his head to the beat while we performed our song.  He even took over lead vocals anytime the words "Jingle Bells" came up.  Somehow this international Christmas song spurred a conversation about Santa.  Ruslan told me that he knows of Santa from watching TV and that Santa does not visit the orphanage.  Then I told him that Santa visits our house in America.  Holy cow.....what a reaction!  He was PUMPED (yes, all capital letters!).  I drew a picture of a Christmas tree and a fireplace and drew a line where Santa would walk back and forth.  Ruslan laughed and had fun describing how he'd wait up to see Santa.  Then he asked me if I've ever seen him.  I told him I hadn't and that he wouldn't either because Santa only comes when you're sleeping.  He then pretended to be sleeping, then he pretended to wake up and walk down the stairs into the living room.  Then he pointed to the drawing of the tree (with presents underneath) and made his "binocular eyes" with his hands.  (He uses these to let me know that he sees something he likes).  He then told me that he wants a present from Santa.  When I said Santa will bring him a present, he asked for 11....and then he asked for 100 presents.  I told him he couldn't have that many because Santa's bag isn't that big....they won't fit.  We covered other topics related to Santa like the cookies, and the chimney, and even covered the broader topic of Christmas itself.  He really likes the idea of getting presents, but I was really surprised because he likes the idea of giving presents just as much.  When he asked me if all the presents would be his, I told him no...they'll have tags with people's names on them.  I drew a picture of a tag with "to" and "from" on it and he wrote out pretend tags for Mama, Papa, Mason (btw he only writes Mason's name in Russian) and even one for babushka and dedushka (grandma and grandpa).  I was impressed.  We pretty much repeated this conversation again today (with no less enthusiasm), but this time he took the role of drawing the Christmas tree.  That is one boy that is already excited about Christmas.  I wonder when he'll want to start counting down the days until then.  That reminds me, how many shopping days are left until Christmas?

If you've read our previous blog posts, you'll probably remember the lady that climbs over the orphanage fence.  I'm pleased to report that today she wasn't alone.  Your first thought might be: did she take a kid with her?  Nope.  Another (grown) woman decided to hop the fence with her (and when I say "hop" I mean slowly, yet skillfully, climb....there is absolutely no "hop" about it).  Ruslan and I got a kick out of this.  Anytime I looked away out of fear of being caught gawking, Ruslan would say "Papa" and point at them.  I was relieved when they were both over the fence and safely on the ground on the other side because I really didn't want them to see us watching them...especially with one of us pointing.

Tomorrow is Ruslan's birthday and I just finished wrapping his presents.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find wrapping paper at the store so I had to buy a couple of notebooks and some tape.  I wrapped each present twice because the pictures showed through the white paper...hopefully they won't be too hard to open.  I'm also going to bring a special treat for him to eat and Karen and Mason were able to record a happy birthday message for him.  I hope that our little party will be special to him.  Tomorrow is also the last day of our 10-day waiting period.  Then we can get the final ball rolling and put the finishing touches on this process and get him home to have a proper birthday cake with his whole family.  His brother's birthday is on the 28th so we may have to have 2 cakes!  And then we can start counting down the days until Christmas.