Meeting Grandather Frost

Me, age 4 or 5, meeting Grandfather Frost, the Russian version of Santa Claus, at a kindergarden party, under the watchful eye of my teacher. I remember that whatever gift I got from the big guy was underwhelming, and that his costume didn't fit him quite right.

New Year, 1983

There was no Christmas in Soviet Russia, but there was New Year, which served nearly the same purpose. Above, me, at my first New Year, with my grandfather.

Summer camp

My dad and my grandmother (top row, middle), late 1950s or early 1960s. Taken at a summer camp on parents' day.

Moi

Hey, look, that's me! All together now: Aww! No, seriously, this photo has some historical value. Note the Brezhnev-era high-rise apartment building in the background.

Kupchino (Leningrad suburb, "a neighborhood of bleak Soviet-era high-rises far from St. Petersburg's beautiful, historic center"), early 80s.

Dad, early 1960s

My father, in Leningrad, in the early 60s.

Grandmother, 1924

Paternal grandmother as a baby (on the bench), with cousins, I think. Taken in 1924, possibly in Sevastopol.