Christmas Came! It Came Just the Same!

You remember the story How the Grinch Stole Christmas?

That was kind of my day today.

Today was the day for our annual holiday party. We've been planning it for a while now. And by we, I mean people other than me. Like my colleague from language class who worked her butt off (AND welcomed people in English, Estonian AND Hebrew...because she rocks like that).

My only roles were to try to get media coverage and then to show up and be jolly.

But dealing with the media in general is my role, and yesterday evening, about 10 minutes after I left work, we had an incident.

A 19-year old Estonian threw a molotov cocktail at the Embassy.

I don't know why he did it, but given that it happened the night before the Holiday Party, it could have spoiled what is a really cherished even both at the embassy and among the community.

But considering, everything went as well as it possibly could have. It was a really minor incident, and I doubt it will even make the U.S. news. No one was injured (thank God), no damage was done to the embassy other than a black smudge on the wall, and the kid has been arrested. In fact, one of our Estonian neighbors grabbed him right after he did it, handed him over to our local guards, who detained him until the police arrived. And they arrived quickly, arrested him, and have him in custody.

And there was no need to cancel the party. It came all the same!

We had clear, crisp weather with no rain (or snow). We had a great turnout. We had cookies and egg nog. We had cute kids singing Christmas and Hanukkah songs. We had decorated trees that lit up on cue when one of the cute kids helped the Ambassador push the button.


It was perfect. Just like these ice ornaments (that in an normal Estonian winter would not have melted until spring!).

I feel a little like the Whos in Whoville.