"On Christmas Eve I went to the gym to watch the city Christmas program and wait for the gifts to be handed out. When they were all handed out I went home. When I went home my children were waiting for me. When they saw all the gifts they couldn't wait until Christmas morning to open them. They kept begging and begging me, so finally, right before midnight, I let them open their gifts. I was hoping that they would forget about it, but they were all excited to see what Santa brought them. I did not open my gifts with them because my husband was out of town and I wanted him to enjoy opening his gifts with someone.

I also ran dogs with my husband and our children, went to work at the store, and spent a lot of time with my family. My daughter was on Christmas break for about a week, and while she was not in school we did a lot of things together.

One weekend my husband and I went to Pilot Station to watch the end of the men's basketball tournament they were having. We watched a couple of games, then we came home. It was so good to have a little break from our children. We usually don't go anywhere out of town, so when we were in Pilot Station people were amazed to see us without our children.

On January 7, the Russian Orthodox Christmas (Slaviq) started. I only went out Slaviqing when I had the chance because most of the time I was working and couldn't go. When I did go I only went to the homes of my relatives and friends."