White Christmas

My best friend Dana invited us to spend Christmas with her and her family at her parents' house in Gura Humorului, a town located 275 Km (about 153 miles) north-east of Cluj. We were excited, so on the 23rd of December we got on a train and off we went. The train ride was 5 and a half hours long, but the time passed really fast as the kids loved being on the train and looking outside the window, being in awe at the tons of snow that had fallen in some parts of the country.


As it is the tradition in many Romanian homes, Moș Crăciun (Santa Clause) arrived at the house on Christmas Eve and the kids were just thrilled. Here they are, patiently waiting for him:

After getting seated confortably, "Moșul" asked who wanted to be the first one to go on his lap. Anais, Dana's daughter, told Alexandra "du-te tu prima" ("you go first") and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Alex wanted to go and did so confidently, without needing me to go with her or hold her hand. She's not and has never been afraid of Santa, but currently she is very shy around strangers. Well, apparently Santa's not a stranger! :-)

He asked her some questions (if she'd been a good girl, had eaten everything on her plate, had taken her naps etc.), to which she nodded yes every time, even though some called for a "no" answer. :-)

Then it was Anais' and Andrei's turn on Santa's lap.

The kids were excited about all their presents.

They all got play laptop computers, which were making so much noise with their music, that made us all wish for earplugs. :-) We called the whole thing an "Internet Cafe". :-)

We spent many early evenings playing outside in the snow.





After 5 great days it was eventually time to get back on the train and return to Cluj.

Thank you Dana and family for a fun and memorable Christmas!