Christmas Travels

We traveled to my grandparents for Christmas and Natasha did quite well with all of the new people.  We had a minor issue preparing clothes for church on Christmas Eve.  Natasha had picked out a cute dress when a friend took her shopping, but it was the kind of (short) dress which requires leggings.  She had a pair of see through nylons which she intended to wear and would not exactly have been appropriate for a 13 yr old girl (or anyone else for that matter).  In Ukraine the standards are very different so we got the chaperone/translator on the phone to try to explain things.  After a few minutes of going back and forth, Natasha reluctantly agreed to the leggings and said she did not like it but she would do it.

I was expecting another argument later when we were getting ready for church, since many 13 yr old girls would push the issue however she got dressed without complaint.  After church she said "this is the first time I liked wearing a dress"!

She seems to really enjoy craft activities.  We opened Santa presents while at grandparents' (the rest will come on the weekend) and she got a fleece pillow making kit.  The one thing I didn't consider was that the instructions were all in English.  As we were at another family Christmas she got out her phone and was beginning to type each word into Google translate so she could do it (would have taken hours!).  Instead, Grandma helped her and she was quite proud of her pillow once completed.

We also learned that she's never vacuumed before!  She volunteered to vacuum the church after our family Christmas there - thought it was the best job in the world.

It seems that she's at the tough age, walking the line between being a child and trying to grow up.  Sometimes all she wants to do is get on VK (European version of Facebook) and take "selfies", but then other times she's ecstatic about crafts or is outside trying to ambush us with snowballs.  No matter where you're from I think that's a hard age but especially in an orphanage situation - she's never had the chance to be a kid, but there's also a lot of pressure to grow up fast and not be vulnerable.