Christmas

On Christmas Eve we were invited to Ilona’s house.  It was very nice.  The first thing that you do before you sit down for the meal is everyone gets a wafer, then you go around to every other guest and tell them what wishes you have for them in the coming year.  Once wishes are exchanged between two people you break off part of the other persons wafer and eat it.  After you exchange wishes with everyone you eat the remaining wafer. 

Then we sat down, all of the dishes were on the table because you cannot go to the kitchen during Christmas Eve dinner.  The first thing we had was Mushroom Soup.  It was very good.  Then we had beat root soup with “ears” really they are small dumplings with cabbage inside, but the word translates directly to ear in English.

After that we could have anything else that we wanted, there were several types of salads, carp, bread, and desserts.  When we had finished the meal, there was 10PLN under our plates and a scale from the carp.  This is good luck if you keep it in your wallet for the year!

Before we cleared the table it was time to exchange gifts.  Then when we were clearing everything off we learned that one Christmas Eve they keep hay under the tablecloth.  They also set one extra place because if a stranger knocks on your door on Christmas Eve you let them join in on dinner.

Thank you to Ilona’s whole family for having us over for Christmas!  We had a lot of fun.  Lastly, we went to Church at Midnight, it was interesting to see Christmas Mass in Polish!

On Christmas Day we were invited to Magda’s house.  We ate similar dishes and all were delicious.