Wednesday, January 21, 2009

New Year's Eve...


Adjusting to the holiday schedule in Greece was  a little easier this year. First of all, we weren't sick during the holidays this year...last year was miserable and it took a lot of effort to try to make things enjoyable. Next, our children have been in school for their second year and have assimilated to the local customs. One of the customs here is that Santa -aka -Agios Vasilis doesn't visit children until New Year's Eve. That's ok though since our children receive gifts from family and friends on Christmas and then Agios Vasilis comes brings more gifts on New Year's Eve.

Things became really exciting this year because we were invited to an event that took place at a local port. Agios Vasilis was due to arrive late in the afternoon! Izabella grabbed her list hoping that she would get to go over it with Mr. Vasilis...here's a picture of our little munchkins waiting for his arrival. We were told that he would arrive by boat which we thought was really cool. 


Izabella anxiously looks around and under a bridge to see if he's on his way...


She spots a small boat in the distance. Flares and noisemakers were used to signal his arrival.


Foti waves at Agios Vasilis.


Agios Vasilis and his crew.



He gave everyone a few gifts, kids were shoving and pushing to move up front so we  kept ours to the back so that they wouldn't be trampled. Serious crowd control issues...



We waited for the crowd to disperse so that our children had a chance to talk to him. Izabella was very suspicious. Shortly after I took this photo she tugged on my coat, wanting to tell me something. Here's what happened...

Iza- "Mom, mom...I have to tell you something."  She looked very concerned.
Me-" What honey? What's going on?" 
Iza-"It's about Santa...I think that he's fooled us!"
Me-"Why? What makes you think that?"
Iza-" Look at him! That doesn't look like Santa! I know what's happening!"
Me-"What's happening Iza? Tell me what you think is happening."
Now she looks at me very seriously and says, " It's not him. It's two elves, one standing on the other...I was held by two elves!"
I giggled and said, "maybe you're right, it doesn't look like him does it?" 

Honestly, I wanted to laugh so hard, but I had to contain myself. I couldn't wait for the opportunity to tell Kosta. Isn't that hilarious?  Anyway, back to the pictures. 



Me 


Kosta & Alexandra


Me & the kids again...they were watching other children play while we forced them to have their picture taken.


We had a wonderful time!




10 comments:

  1. hi cheryl
    some people say that christmastime is a children festival, but i dont agree. the way agios vasilis arrived to see your children brings a bit of harry potter magic into everyone's home!

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  2. You should write this article a many days before in order to display it in my blogs! Great post and beautiful pictures too. Best wishes and regards.

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  3. Maria, you're right...it was magical.

    Philip, thank you! Well, I started this post on the 3rd of the month and it seemed that each time I would go back to it I was interrupted somehow. I was going to skip posting it altogether but I thought my readers would still enjoy it even if it was a few weeks ago. Maybe next time things will work in our favor! :) Hugs from Thessaloniki!!!

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  4. Hi Cheryl,
    What a great event! Iza is a smart cookie, she can't be fooled.
    Thanks for sharing the cute pictures.
    Take care.

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  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  6. Yes, you can't fool kids....
    thanks for sharing the family photos, you all look great!

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  7. BangSArif- I don't "exchange" links and I am not looking for more traffic. Your link is loaded with a virus and therefore it has been removed from my comments. No thank you...


    Jude- You're welcome! I'll be around to see what you've been doing soon!!

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  8. I love that Izabella came prepared with a list. It is very smart, because inevitably I'd become overwhelmed by Santa and forget everything I wanted.

    And of course in Greece Santa has to arrive by boat!!!

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  9. Mel, she had that list under her pillow since early Oct. I'm not kidding! It's just too bad that this guy wasn't interested in it...that's when she became suspicious.
    But, arriving by boat was awesome and they had a lot of fun anyway. I did too!

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  10. Yeah those elves can be really cheeky. I've seen them do that in circuses too. They pretend to be horses and stuff.

    They have weird sense of humour.

    But my question is: what did they do with Santa? Was he sick for the day? Did they abduct him or kidnap him just to play a prank? Or was he in on the scam?

    I don't trust the lot of them. I'll take the presents - but after that you can forget it.

    ;)

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