...you are Russian Orthodox living in the UK? Do you have enough willpower to wait until 6 January and do it in the traditions of the Russian church, or give in and "do" the December Christmas? Or do you just focus on Novy God in the vintage Soviet style?
We vaguely tried to do it the Russian way in January but after weeks of parties and festive chaos in the run up to 24/25 Dec, a proper Christmas celebration a fortnight after seems an afterthought and we hardly bother really. As a result we do not properly celebrate on either date.
It worked ok in the past: on Christmas we would either travel abroad or go to a close friend's. We exchanged gifts... whenever. Sometimes on Christmas in December, sometimes on NY eve.
Now we have a daughter, and would like her to enjoy the magic of Christmas, develop our own family Christmas traditions etc. It'd be easier to do it like everyone else in December, but it has no meaning for me, no emotional connection. Celebrating in January may feel rather anti-climatic, especially when she is starts nursery / school and sees that how everything culminates in December. Doing it twice dilutes the excitement...
How do you handle it?
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Umnitsa · 20/12/2010 17:59
DH is Russian Orthodox; I'm Anglican. No children yet.
We have a quiet day at home on the 25th, eat lots of delicious fish-based things (though last year I had some prosecco with, DH obviously did not).
We usually get a dispensation from the priest for DH to have some meat on around the 27th when we go to my parents, but again, he won't have much and won't drink. Then we have a proper roast meal on the 7th - this year we're having friends over who've been in the States over Christmas, and it will be a bit more of a party.
Not sure what we will do when we have children - a bit of me would like them to celebrate on my Christmas just because we live in the UK and otherwise it might be confusing for them. But I also enjoy the quietness of (my) Christmas the way DH and I do it now, so I will try to make sure we keep some of that and don't let it get too out of hand.
Sorry if that's not much help, but I don't often come across other RO people here, so I was excited! 
That sounds like a nice division. I suppose what we do is basically the same but the other way round - quiet and spiritual for my Christmas, lots of food and wine for his!
I suspect a child would learn to be rather pleased there were two celebrations - it's always nice to feel as if you're getting something special.
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