One tradition that is always anticipated, by the children that were raised by my parents, is Christmas Eve dinner. My mother is 100% polish and every Christmas Eve, we have 'Wigilia" (Vee-gee-lia), a traditional Christmas Eve vigil dinner. This meal is 12 courses. When I was younger, we had 9; then we had 5 further on in my childhood. Eventually people picked their favorites and the number dwindle down a bit more. Last night, we had 3 courses and even though it sounds like it's a big change from before, a lot of us only did eat 3 courses anyway when there were 9 served.
This is how it begins. Every place setting (even a place for baby Jesus) gets what is called a opłatek (pwah-tek), a polish wafer. This symbolizes the bread that is eaten daily.
After the blessing, everyone goes around and wishes each other a Merry Christmas and good fortune for the new year by taking a piece from each other's opłatek and then hugging or kissing on the cheek.
(Wonderful demonstration by my brother and husband)
Then the meal starts!
This is the first course: cream sauce and herring, pickled herring, and crackers.
the Gang!
This is the second course: Borscht (borsh), a beetroot soup with mushrooms. We first prepare our bowls by cutting up hard-boiled eggs, kielbasa (polish sausage), hash browns, and rye bread.
It may look weird to you... but it is DELICIOUS!! This has been one of the favorites for many years.
This is the third course: Pierogis (pye-roh-gees), dumplings of unleavened dough some stuffed with sauerkraut, cheese, cheese and potatoes, and we do fruit (this year was blueberries and cherries). They are boiled and then fried with butter and onions (not the fruit ones, of course). They are yummy!
After all of this, we clean up and hang out for a while before desert! This year, we had 12+ kinds of cookies, a chocolate chip cookie pie, and cheese cake for desert. I wish I had gotten a picture of the cookie platter but, the food was so filling, my memory seemed to have gone with my consciousness. The food coma was wondrous ;)
Here are more pictures of Christmas Eve:
Brother-in-law Matt, Brother Tim, and Husband Paul
Our first Christmas together!
Nephew (1 of 5) Eddie
Mom, sister Shannon, Dad, sister Nutmeg
Brother-in-law Colin with his two kids, Tiger and Little Miss
sister Shannon
Story time with Uncle Paul!
2 of my beautiful older sisters cleaning up!
The parents with 5 of their children (Erin, my 3rd oldest sister, isn't present in this one)
Oldest sister and her DH
They're so cool!
Knucks!
Playing catch with Uncle Tim
Tiger and Little Miss
Catch before bed.
Brynach-Joe and the Nativity scene.
21 stockings all hung in a row.
It was a wonderful Christmas Eve!
