Christmas in Blago

The city of Blagoevgrad has started gearing up for Christmas.  Many of the traditions are similar to the ones we might see in the U.S.  For example:

It looks like the tree at the end of the Charlie Brown Christmas cartoon.

Christmas trees are decorated here, in virtually the same way they would be in the U.S.  And while there is no Rockefeller Center in Blago, they do have a city square, so we might as well put a big tree in it, right?

The commercialism is not nearly to the level you might see in the U.S., but there is a seasonal uptick in sales.  The city evens constructs a row of temporary kiosks near the main square where food vendors and sales people can peddle their wares.  It's kind of like a midway in a winter fair (and yes, it still counts as winter even though there is no snow).

Shoppers rush home with their treasures?

One problem that arises after the gifts are purchased is how the gift-giver is going to hide them from the recipient until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  Many of the apartments here are not large, so there is not a great deal of private storage space.  Anne and Mark found one apartment dwelling with an interesting solution to this problem:

Third balcony from the top

Christmas "bubble" on the balcony - genius!

In some respects, Blago may be even more into Christmas than other cities Anne and Mark have visited. For example, in how many cities have you actually seen a one-horse open sleigh?

Strangely, it does not look like "Oh what fun"