Armenians celebrate New Year's with a passion. Then on January 6th---tomorrow---they celebrate "Christmas" as a religious holiday. We'll have a branch party which will take most of the day. They have so much planned I don't know how they'll get it all in. The branch president's office is filled to the brim with barbie dolls and games. There are more barbie dolls than there are people in the branch. But knowing Armenians, & Georgians, too, they'll just stay in a box and be put up on a shelf. I could write a whole dissertation on how children here aren't covetous and wanting the latest toys endlessly. In fact, this is as good a time as any to say how content and grateful the people seem to be with what life is giving them. (I told my grandchildren about our 10 year old friend whose sister asked him what he wanted for Christmas, and he shrugged, and said "Nothing!"----it wasn't something he ever even thought about.) Vanadzor was in the big earthquake 20 years ago---not hit quite as hard as some areas. But everything, still, is torn up and raggedy and in terrible repair. (Part of that is because it's so expensive to go to Home Depot and fix things up--wait, they don't have Home Depot. But if they did they couldn't afford it. Remember these are people who buy parchment paper by the centimeter. ) BUT the point is that they remember when they had NOTHING--no water, no food, no nothing, so they are very grateful for things as they are now.
So, now, a quick trip through New Year's. January 1 we spent about 5 hours with the branch president's family. This is the formula: They have a lavish spread, in his case a roast pork, and a roast chicken, and plates full of dolmas, big displays of fruit, nuts and dried fruit, small bowls of salads (not as we know them--usually very mayonnaisey potato, or carrot salads) pickles, olives, platters of sliced sausages, bottles and bottles of drinks, pastries, blinis. It's quite tasty. We stayed so long because we were having such a good time. They are the only actual family in the branch--with father, mother, son and daughter all active. We talked about many things, mostly about how the Gospel has blessed their family. His occupation is selling fruit on a little part of the sidewalk--he has a lot of competition, but we talked about how keeping the Sabbath Day holy, and closing on Sunday, and paying his tithing and going to the temple has blessed their lives. (p.s. Since I am blogging very randomly, and after the fact, you need to know that since New Year's he has found a good job as a meter reader--another blessing. And since then he has lost that job. If I edited everything I've posted it would literally never end. ) He was very proud of the fact that, unlike most of the people here, he didn't have to go into debt to provide his New Year's feast. Even the head of the Armenian church has chastised the people for borrowing money so they can impress their neighbors with big spreads at holiday time. (An Armenian joke: "What would an Armenian do if he won a million in the lottery?" "He'd pay off debts." "And how would he pay off the rest?") I told them Americans do the same thing--only it's with big houses and cars and toys. There is nothing quite like a Georgian or Armenian dinner. We sang Silent Night (Loor Gisher, Sourp Gisher) and the time really flew. I was embarrassed that we had stayed so long, but they seemed to think it was fine---they are very gracious.
Then on Saturday we went to Seda's. Seda has been to the Temple, and has two wonderful teen-aged children, who stayed at the table and were sweet the whole time we were there. Same menu, basically, and her daughter, Maneh, had made the pastries. They all end up with tons of dirty dishes, and no dishwasher, but this is their big, once a year thing. Her husband is very, very nice and they have a happy and very loving family. All of her family, in Russia, are members. She is the Primary President and does a wonderful job with the children. She is the kind of person who, if she lived in Salt Lake, would be on the General Board. I have hired her as my housekeeper, at the branch president's request, and against all my own inclinations, and when I came home early yesterday she was washing my windows on her own initiative. She is very thorough, and she's teaching me Armenian, too, and helping me find my way around the city. (p.s. I am now her 2nd counselor, and loving Primary.) She's going to help me go buy a stove on Friday. Her home is actually much nicer than mine. I can take bucket baths all day, but I''ve got to have a stove. (p.s. my new stove burns everything, but I'm working on my stove skills.)
Sunday we went to Rosannne and Roland's. He used to be the Branch President and they''ve been to the temple several times. He's the rare Branch President who doesn't go inactive after being released. Only menu change was that they had a whole ham, which was very good. And she made 5 different pastries,including baklava. After that we went to Armine's. She has two daughters--Arax and Ani--and they are something straight out of Pride and Prejudice. Arax is wild and crazy, beautiful and funny. Ani is serene and industrious and beautiful and sings like an angel. I'm going to teach her to play the piano. They have both served mini-missions. Their father is a character. He and Elder Blunck hit it off, after a brief tiff when Elder Blunck refused to drink wine with him. But the inspiring thing to me was how they all adore him, and even though I know Armine yearns for him to be baptized (which would involve giving up much in the way of lifelong habits), and take her to the temple (she's been, and she says "The Church is my Life!!) they all treat him with great respect and love. We had a very kind of Dickensy time---people took turns singing and dancing, and we ended up with Christmas caroling---Elder Thylin is a Swedish Jew, and he sang Swedish songs, Elder Stephenson sang O Holy Night, Ani sang a plaintive mid-Eastern song, there was dancing, & it was a beautiful evening.