Christmas for the House Confined

Together with some colleagues, my wife Sandra visited those people in Stelpe who by reason of venerable age or some disability could not come to the Christmas party for pensioners. The visitors delivered some Christmas presents prepared by the school teachers, pupils, local government workers and other well meaning people of Stelpe.

If any of the visited people own a cupboard or a bookshelf, they may be called rich. Most of them just live between their four walls, and inside that space, there is some kind of fire, a piece resembling bed, and might be some table.

Their only companion and link to the broader world is usually a TV set.

No one of them ever complains. That's their life to be lived, and no one from outside will ever be able to resolve their problems.

Yet there is one thing we all became aware of: we need to visit those people a little more often than just Christmas, listen to what they have to say, bring them some food, clothes, blankets... It is our chance to make ourselves useful, is it not?

Aina (picture above) is 95 years old, 7 of which have been spent in the Siberian exile. Even though she needs some helper to take care of her, her mind remains bright, and she loves to welcome friends in her house.

All the pictures in this post by Sandra Neliusa

Tereze Neliusa sang a song which most of the visited people tried to join in.

Sabine Mikalone played Kokle, and many people had tears in their eyes

Mr. Zvirbulis uses his arms to pull himself out of the door when the sun shines. He has lost his legs. The wheelchair he possesses is not stable enough to be used for taking himself around.

Young Children's Christmas

There were professional circus artists, Shrek the Ogre, Squirrel the Santa Assistant and, of course, the best ever Santa on small children's Christmas in Stelpe.


Squirrel and the mastermind of the celebration - Sandra Neliusa

Shrek the Ogre played by teacher Lāsma Skābuliņa. She was so serious about the role even months before the performance that she was nicknamed Shrek by her colleagues. Children got involved in the activities of the conjuror.

The clown

...and the very best ever Santa. This particular Santa Claus is unusually creative and loved by the children. He always surprises with the way he arrives to the celebration. He may come through the window, descend from somewhere above, be found under a sofa...

Just don't tell anyone that under the costume there is the head teacher of Stelpe School Dagmāra Venclova.

Meet the Light - Advent in Valle

On December 5, groups of schoolchildren and their teachers from 9 schools met in Valle Gathering Hall to celebrate Advent. Each school had prepared a concise show with focus on what this special time of the year reminds us of. The audience was addressed by clergymen. Brass orchestra from Skaistkalne played Christmas carols and other well known music pieces.


Stelpe group from left: Samanta Struberga, Aleksandra Hadzimoratova, Sabine Mikalone (playing Kokle ), Krista Maksimovica and myself with what we had to say.

Catholic priest Father Janis and lutheran minister Juris Morics spoke about the history of the Advent. They called the listeners not to lose the eternal values in the times of recession and wished everyone a blessed year.

Kokle players from Vecumnieki Music and Art School

String orchestra from Vecumnieki Music and Art School Vocal group from Skaistkalne Secondary School

Ballet performance of the ballet club of Barbele Elementary School Aloida Batye and Sandra Neliusa - the masterminds of the celebration

In the Gathering Hall, there were no empty seats

Each school had made their own Advent Crown, and they all were given as presents to Valle Secondary School who hosted the celebration When the concert was over, all the participants and spectators were invited to have a traditional Christmas meal of well prepared black peas. This treat was a favour of farmer Arvids Zvirbulis and Valle Secondary School.

Christmas in Stelpe

Choir of doctors and nurses from the central children's hospital in Riga under the guidance of its manager and conductor Cheslaw Batnya sang the most popular Christmas carols. The texts were projected on the screen so that the spectators could join in. The conductor himself wore a santa costume so it was difficult to recognize him even though he is a well-known person in Stelpe.

Watch a small video:

Our kids (from left) Karlis Elmer (7), Tereze (15) and Daag (5) after the concert.
Later in the evening, there was a dancing party with brass orchestra from Skaistkalne led by Janis Kalnins which was enjoyed by young and old, and lasted till 2 A.M.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

After a while, I am now back to this blog. I haven't been in position to write. Now the life seems to be more or less back to normal, so I will try to catch up a little with what we have been through these recent months.

We may say that it is already a tradition that, in the New Year Eve, together with our friends Roger and Valerie Hazelden, we go to the forest, decorate a tree, sing some corals and have some warm drink. So we did it this time, too.

PHOTO: ROGER HAZELDEN

The weather was beautiful, only some 7 degrees below zero. Full moon was shining over the treetops. And silence.

Only later we learned that there had been a partial lunar eclipse exactly the time when we were in the forest. But, not knowing of that beforehand, we did not even notice.

One more funny thing was that, having come to our traditional place, we discovered that THE tree we always used to decorate was cut down and taken home by somebody. So we had to find another tree, which was not that difficult since there is no shortage of fir in Stelpe forest.

After having sung Silent Night, Holy Night and wished each other a happy year, we returned to our homes to hear the prime minister trying to persuade the people pay the increased taxes when it was hard enough to get the ends meet even with the old rates. The president of the State, in his turn, tried to dissuade the nation from the deep rooting desire for a strong leader - dictator, who would call the corrupt MPs and government officials to justice, saying that a dictatorship would put an end also to the long cherished dream of freedom and democracy.