Christmas and New Year’s are a couple of the most festive family holidays in the world. Each year not only children, but even adults eagerly await the scents of fresh Christmas trees and evergreens, the rustle of wood in the fireplace and the crumpling of wrapping paper. Unfortunately, however, not everyone is able to celebrate such festive holidays with their close ones. For this reason, when the opportunity arises to share one’s joy and holiday spirit with children from orphanages, it becomes an indispensable opportunity for an incredible experience.
This is exactly what happened on December the 18th at “Yantarik” Children’s Home, where volunteers and alumni from FLEX, UGRAD and IVLP programs organized a true Christmas adventure: complete with presents under a tree, Christmas cards for each child, riddles, drawing, Father Frost and even Santa Claus (Fulbright Student Participant – Gary, USA). Needless to say, the celebration became very international: intern from India, Adi, sought help from the children in case of a “snowy Kaliningrad,” and Santa even taught the boys and girls a few Christmas words in English. Altogether, there were around 40 people present at the event (19 children and 22 volunteers). Towards the end of the evening, all shared in a conversation on how different countries celebrate Christmas and New Year’s. It turns out that in Lithuania, a Christmas table is not full unless it contains 12 dishes made of fish! Disregarding the presents and treats, the most important part of the evening was the delight of the children and the overwhelming desire of all participants to repeat the celebration once again. It’s just a shame that we’ll have to wait an entire year.