Happy New Year !!

More pictures here

XBox Party

For the holidays, Leon got himself a semi professional German-made set of steering controls for X-box. Grandpa mounted the rig with some serious hardware on a custom-built table. Then, everyone got a chance behind the wheel...

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Coq au Vin

Earlier in the week, we had what is becoming a traditional annual outing in the city with Alik, Andrey, Oleg and spouses. This time, we went to a French restaurant. The chef's special that day was Coq au Vin, which brought lots of juvenile joy to the male members of our party (as in, "who wants some of my cock", get it?). The waiter assured us that Coq is, indeed, a rooster, though those who ordered a more pedestrian Chicken Under Brick couldn't really tell the difference.

Speaking of Coq. Next day, Alik, Andra and us went to see a revival of Noel Coward's "Private Lives" with Kim Catrall (yes, who played Samantha on "Sex and the City"). The set design (a modern style Paris apartment) was spectacular and so was the male lead, but 50++ Catrall trying to pass for a 30 year old was a stretch.

The Protester

Olga, caught on camera at a protest rally in Saratov

Happenings

Late November and December are the weekend of the year. We kicked it off with Irene's Birthday party slash Thanksgiving. We had 27 people over and it was the first time, when we had no leftovers the next day. Two turkeys were consumed to the bone, the giant cake was gone too and I wouldn't even mention what happen to three bottles of Scotch. Click here for more pictures.

Last Friday, Dad's company T3 had a gathering in Stamford. People flew in from across the country. Many met each other in person for the first time. It was fun to finally see somebody who you knew only by voice for years. More pictures are here and here.

All pictures are courtesy of Kostya.

Yesterday, we went to Sasha Tsiporukha's birthday party in Staten Island. A large red-nosed clown performed magic tricks. The tricks didn't move Max, but Dad was clapping, and singing along, totally taken by magic.  The clown's music repertoire included a mix of Russian kids song, Odessa chanson, Klezmer and Soviet pop.

We also used the trip as an opportunity to see Leon in New York. It was the annual NYC Santa day and the city was filled with drunk and jolly people in Santa attire.

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Dec 3rd was Rose's 10th anniversary - we think about her often.