346

Joy!

344

Santa's Suit

339

Childhood Memories

338

Santa's Here

334

Memories

As we were decorating the tree at my Mom's house, she still had decorations that my brother and I had painted many years ago.  I still remember the cold rainy day when we sat around our kitchen table and painted these wooden ornaments.  I can remember wondering why it took my brother so long to paint one ornament -- now it is plainly obvious as to who painted which ornament. 

330

Many Blessings

86

Egg Race

Today we went to an Easter Party with some friends.  I love this picture of E as she is soooo intent on carrying her egg. 

Lesson learned -- uggh -- I thought I set my white balance to cloudy (because it was cloudy), but obviously I changed it, but did not set the setting.  So all my pictures turned out blue -- lots of editing after wards to get it to turn out halfway decent.  They look great in a black and white setting -- but who wants black and white Easter photos :(   . 

59

Danilo's Birthday Cake

Sunday, we celebrated our friend Danilo's birthday.  He turned 14.  His mom made this cake for him.  It is very typical of Montenegrin cakes -- multi-layered, cream filing and icing on the top. 

We cooked Mexican food -- fajitas, enchiladas and potatoes.  Danilo tried his first fresh jalapeno and decided that it was VERY hot! 

43

Valentine's Cookies

Tonight at our Hop, Skip, Jump we celebrated Valentine's Day.  I made cookies -- lots of heart cookies.  I loved "J's" heart necklace and pink shirt - sort of fit with the theme for the evening.

I'm still struggling a bit with the lighting on the inside shots -- shutter speed was a bit slow for this on and focus was not great.

8

This is special bread that is made for Christmas Dinner.  We went to our friend's home for lunch and ate for 3 hours!!!   Before eating the bread, we all held the bread and turned it 7 times, then we each took a piece of it.  The lucky person got a euro that was baked in it.  Christian was the lucky person, but Danilo (the only son and man of the house), had to buy the euro from Christian to bring good luck to his house. 

6

December 6th is the Eve of Orthodox Christmas. The day is called "Bandnje Veche" after the "badnjak" the word for the oak branch.  On this eve, thousands of folks burn an oak branch. This is an old custom -- not sure how far it dates back (I will research and update).  In the morning, the father of the house goes and cuts down an oak branch -- really a small sapling about 10 feet long.  They say a prayer and bring it home.  The women of the house greet the husband and throw wheat at him as they welcome him and offer him food (I think a special bread).  In the evening, the family brings in the oak branch and burns it in their fire place.

This has now been incorporated by the Orthodox Church and folks can take their oak branch to the church and burn it.  I think that it is supposed to bring good luck and success in the coming year.  The amount of sparks that shoot up determine the success.  In the case of a torrential downpour, a bit of help from kerosene was needed!

This was the fire in front of the Orthodox Church here in Podgorica at about 10:00 pm.  Earlier, you could see families walking down the street carrying their oak tree. Our landlords had their own fire in the drive way as they burned their branches. 

Sorry for the late post -- got in late last night.