Christmas 11: special school

Papa Panov making shoes

On Thursday, the special school had their Christmas production. They had been working hard for weeks, preparing and getting ready. The stage and many of the props had been made by the children. They had been involved in every part. It looked really good. The morning included performances from children in the Baptist church school, songs from a man in church, a birthday cake and the children’s performances.

The children performed their Papa Panov drama really well. The children had little black “Russian” hats, matching outfits and were so excited to perform.

The street cleaner

The shoe cleaner

The Policeman

The sweet seller

The carol singers

The Chorus

The mother and her child, receiving her new shoe 

Angels singing

Singing about the donkey to Bethlehem

Afterwards, the children performed their songs. Some of them sang and danced to a song about the donkey on the journey to Bethlehem. It was the catchiest tune ever written. Most days since the end of October, this song has been going round and round in my head. Afterwards the others sang a carol song about the bells of Bethlehem. They were dressed as angels and had brightly decorated wings. It made it a little hard to help them dance.

The children received their Christmas gifts from the shoe boxes, and from the Baptist Church school children and received bags of biscuits and sweets. It was a very successful morning. Of course, we also had some lunch; some chicken and rice to finish off the morning. By the end of it I was well and truly exhausted but very proud of the children. (See blog entry below entitled exhausted)

It has been a busy few weeks. Amongst all the Christmas programmes, I have been trying to fit in some therapy sessions with the children. It has been a month of ups and downs. The lead up to Christmas has been a lot harder than I imagined it would be. Having reminders of Christmas every day has reminded me every day that I am not with my family this year. However, now it is just 2 days until Christmas, I am excited about experiencing Christmas in a different culture. I feel more relaxed now it is the end of term. I am looking forward to having some time to be with friends and my new family and focus on Jesus.