Christmas!

Okay! I'm back with the slightly delayed Chrismas post~

I basicly wanted to write about Christmas with my family as well as Polish traditions, since some of my friends were interested. Hope you find it interesting~ 

As a side note~ I'm not particularly religious, and neither is my family (thought they are Catholic and believe in God), but traditions are something quite important in our culture and I always looks forwards to such days~
 

my little /fake/ Xmas tree~

If you see on the bottom left we have mandarins~ That's kind of a polish tradition, and most years that's the only thing we have under the Christmas tree. It comes from the times of my parents and before. As Poland was under the communist rules there was little access to many products and tropical fruits were very difficult to obtain, so the mandarins under the christmas tree were a very special treat. Obviously now days it's a normal product, but I cant imagine my tree without them xD

must say this is the first time we had so much presents.

In Poland, Santa gives presents on the night of 6th December (Saint Nicholas day), but I haven't really gotten presents in years~ Also if you do get presents on Christmas those are said to be from the Angel not santa~ 

I bought most of the presents this year~ felt like Santa, it was really nice ^__^

my Xmas nails~ not much, I have no will do play around with them lately, especially since they all started breaking >__< 

Onto the Christmas meal~

In Poland the most celebrated day is Christmas Eve /Wigilia/ on the the 24th of December. Don't ask why that's just the tradition, quite a few countries in Europe celebrate it this way.

But back to Polish tradition; the Christmas Eve supper is supposed to start once the first star appears, representing the star of Bethlehem. Then the family gathers around the table, and the head for the family starts by giving wishes to everyone, Each person takes the "oplatek" and gives wishes to family members and breaks of a piece to share.

There is an extra plate on the table for the "unexpected guest", also bits of hay should be placed under the table cloth in the memory of Jesus born in a manger.

Oplatek

Christmas wafer, not consecrated like the ones in mass, but it's the same thing just in a rectangular shape with an image embossed usually with some chrismas related biblical image~

Afterwards the supper can begin. According to the tradition is should consist of 12 meals / plates, in memory of the 12 apostles. Honestly don't think we ever had 12 dishes, but we cheat by counting each different food as a meal xD

First /barszcz czerowny z uszkami/

beetroot soup with small dumpling (similar to ravioli).

For Wigilia no meat should be consumed therefore the uszka should have mushroom and cabbage filling, but since my brother is a picky bastard we just have them with meat xD

Also other soups are often prepared (not in my house thought) like barszcz bialy (made with soured wheat flour) or mushroom soup. 

The most important meal is fish! (since no meat is eaten)
traditionally Carp is always eaten, but we didn't have any this year since my dad is the only one who eats it (no wonder carp is disgusting...) 

so mum just made some nice fish fillets in bread crumb coating and in sauce with sour cream and cheese ~ 

here dad eating his fish along with /kapusta z grochem/ - cabbage with peas

mum and dad serving the food ^__^

also mum will always make /krokiety/, croquettes, made from thin pancake, covered with breadcrumbs and fried on a pan, normally stuffed with mushrooms, meat or cabbage. Cabbage filling is normally served for Wigilia, but we have often made exceptions for my brother and allowed meat. 

Somehow we had none this year unfortunately >3< 

Next is my all time favourite /pierogi ruskie/

which are polish dumplings made with unleavened dough, filled with white cheese (curd), potatoes and fried onions. The thing on top are /skwarki/, its made by smelting slonina (salo - salt-cured slabs of pig fatback), fried on the pan before serving~

Seriously best food ever xD  

my brother pretending to be all cool, with his glass of Coke xD

and my mum~ I did her make up! was quite proud ^__^ 

and dad~

didn't have that many meals this year (mainly laziness), but it was all very, very tasty~
before the desserts decided to open presents, so all that food can settle a bit

mum being all excited and eager to open up the packages~

opening the presents! 

and here are mine~
the sweater on the left

and Beats Solo HD in white

/excited/

really much more than I expected <sobbing>

I got this alarm clock for my brother~ it has little wheels and tries to escape when it goes off xD epic~

Marcin (my brother) also got an acoustic guitar, he has been bothering my parents about it for aaages, let's see if he ever gets to use it xD 

dad trying to show of his non existent skills~ 

Afterwards we had some cake and watched TV. /no photos/

Traditionally poppy seed roll is eaten, but they didn't have it in the shop ;__; (and my mum can't bake xD).

Ah also some other traditional things, never consumed in my house, are kutia (disgusting, sweet grain pudding thing) and compote (punch like drink) from dry fruits~ 

Also we'd usually go to the midnight mass afterwards, but since there is no Polish church where I live, the priest comes to give one mass, which was at 9 pm. A bit too early, so decided to skip this year~ (didnt even go to church on Christmas day xD parents have been misbehaving~ lol) 

a photo after, with my new sweater on~ 

aren't they beautiful~

That's all!
Hope you enjoyed~  (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ