My First Christmas in America

          "Rockin'  around  the  Christmas  tree. Have a happy holiday...'', when I hear that song everything inside of me comes alive. Christmas is my favorite holiday, the most magical and happiest time in the year for me. There's something about the way everything comes together — the middle of winter, the lights, the music, the food.  I love Christmas for so many reasons. All my family gets together. There's special food and drinks like eggnog and peppermint mocha! I love the cold weather around that time. I love to watch the old-fashioned Christmas  movies.  I do like to buy gifts for people. I love the lights. I love the smell of Christmas trees, hot chocolate and cinnamon.  Everything about Christmas is just cozy and nice.

          I remember my first Christmas far away from home: it was equal parts of sadness and happiness.  When  I used to live in South Carolina my  Christmas was the warmest Christmas in my life. People decorated palm trees with lights and walked on the beach wearing  flip-flops. I am originally  from Siberia and it was a little bit  shocking for me to celebrate Christmas in the middle of  the  ''summer''.  The whole city was covered with lights.  All buildings, bars, restaurants, shops, banks looked like  Christmas postcards.  I missed my family across the ocean and thought about them during  holiday week.  I was crying  almost everyday, because I couldn't  hug my Mom.  My new Russian-Americans friends changed  my mind about unfamily Christmas and made my first Christmas in America unforgettable.

          We rented a beautiful beach house on the ocean. The view was breathtaking: endless ocean and millions of  stars above my head. My friends and I decorated the house with different Christmas staff, cooked Russian traditional holiday food (Olivier/Russian salad, pancakes with caviar, pelmeni and etc). Also we prepared Christmas music and fireworks.  We were sitting at the table `enjoying our holiday dinner.  Everyone felt happy and blessed. For me, that Christmas, was a lot more than just a holiday. I met my future husband that magical night and for me it was the best Christmas gift ever.