new year's Belarussian style

A couple of my good friends from Belarus have been visiting the U.S. the last few weeks, and it has been fun to see them and catch up after our long separation. Because they were visiting, Justin and I spent New Year's Eve apart (he had to work the next morning at 7 a.m.!) so that I could attend the Belarussian celebration in Lexington. Several American friends have married spouses from Belarus and most of them live in the Lexington area, so it was fun to be with this crowd to ring in the new year.

The tradition in Belarus is to eat a big meal around midnight and basically stay up until 6 a.m. celebrating. This group only made it until about 2:30 which was pushing it for me! Due to the craziness of all this, Lewis spent the holiday with his Aunt Ellen, for which we were really grateful!

Here are some pictures:

Andrei Golubev holding Lewis at my dad's house in Louisville. Andrei stayed with dad and Martha for a few days before Christmas.






















Dad and Lewis playing a new game.





















Lewis and I; Natasha Rybinskaya; Val, Heather & Annabella Morozov; & Tasha Caruthers at our house in Bowling Green last week.
















Me, Tasha and Natasha having an interesting New Year's Eve dinner at Nagasaki Japanese Grill in Lexington.
















Our blurry group photo (not sure what happened here, but I'm hoping someone has a better one that can replace this one!) Front row: Yura Metelsky holding Val Jr., Val Morozov, Tasha Caruthers and Andrei Golubev. Back row: Natasha R., Heather and Annabella, Lovell and Vera Fouchee (our hosts) and Lovell's mom.