Winter Wonderland

I love winter holidays, don't you?

This is the first time I've tried making cardamon cookies. They're essentially just sugar cookies with some cardamon thrown into the mix. The recipe is super easy and they turned out really tasty.  

Patriarshiye Ponds are beautiful in winter and summer. Despite being called "ponds", it is just one single pond in the center of Moscow surrounded by a tiny park. It's always decorated for New Year, there is a small handcrafts market, and dancing and fireworks on the New Year night.     

It'd been a pretty dark and rainy winter, but on New Year it started to snow and the next morning the whole world looked like a white fairy tale.  

While in Moscow, I went to the State Historical Museum to see a wonderful exhibition "Happy New Year, Dear Comrades!" It showed a collection of Soviet New Year tree ornaments, postcards, photographs, posters, masquerade costumes, and much more. There were costumes from the Nutcracker ballet and a little area where kids could make their own New Year masks and tree ornaments out of paper. You can see some pictures from the exhibition here. 

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and was a bit upset that I could not document any of the little pieces of glass, wire, ribbons and cotton that together made some of the most exquisite tree decorations. To my delight,  a few days later I was visiting my aunt who had a collection of Soviet tree ornaments on her tree. I was free to photograph them to my heart's content.    

   

I was so inspired that I started making my own tree ornaments.