Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Today there was a New Year's party for the children of employees of the university. I took Askarbek to it. He really liked the person dressed up in the Shrek suit. The party was held in the big concert hall with the giant portraits of Marx, Engels and Lenin. There is a blank spot where Stalin's portrait was painted over during the Khrushchev era. Tomorrow is Christmas for Catholics and Protestants here and I am taking the day off from work. I will be back at the grindstone on Boxing Day.