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Christmas eve, or Christmas day?
Topic Started: Dec 24 2011, 12:14 PM (1,065 Views)
Helena
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I love Christmas eve. In a Polish family, it is the main event. We light the Christmas tree at 6pm (or when the first star appears in the sky) and sing a carol. Then we have a traditional dinner with a constant menu: beet soup, pierogi (those are pasta with potato or mushroom filling) and fried in butter and onions, and sweet cinnamon cheese crepes. If you are traditional purist, you serve fish as it is supposed to be a meatless meal, but my dad didn't like fish, so we always had kielbasa that he made and smoked.

Then, after dinner (which the adults all drag out as long as possible to torture the children....), the gifts under the tree are opened. Everyone then bundles up and is carted off to midnight mass---for cradle carols and a midnight eucharist (communion).

Christmas Day was a big family dinner with a big ham and potato salad, and lots of playing with the toys you got from Santa the night before, but the real event is on Christmas eve.
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Jonathan
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Quote:
 
which the adults all drag out as long as possible to torture the children


Is that Polish tradition too? :D

For us, it's Christmas day. For example, today I woke up at 2pm, have watched DVDs all day and am going out with my friends tonight. Fairly normal saturday night. However tomorrow, after waking up slightly hungover, gifts will be shared, reletives will be visited, and then a big meal will be had. It used to be a much bigger event for our family, but alas we have grown apart. Still a fun time, though, except I'm working the day after... :(
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Helena
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Jonathan
 
Is that Polish tradition too? :D


It certainly is in our family. We have a mean streak.

To get Freudian about it, I think it stems from the rage and jealousy over no longer being one of those children eagerly awaiting the opening of the presents.

But that's just my take on it....
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Nemomon
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I just finished my Christmas eve. This year my brother came to me with his children and woman (she is not his wife yet). Like Helena says, this day is the most important day I think - the shared dinner. The younger child - Ksawier - was causing troubles all the time. He is a 13 months old now. We had a different kinds of fish to eat, of course a cabbage with mushrooms, a corn or pierogi (I don't like pierogi, except of pierogi with a white cheese) that my brother was eating after every cup of vodka.

Happy Christmas to all the Support Board members and Guests! :wub: And especially to my fellow Helena. :)
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Helena
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ah yes..the vodka. And the cherry wine.

My grandfather made cherry wine every year and broke it out out for Christmas (the whole twelve days of it.)

I'm sure Ksawier will have a better Christmas next year (and subsequently, so will you and Mrs. Nemo) once he is a bit older. mmm... I love pierogi with white cheese too... fried in butter (of course) with cherry preserves on them. A favorite christmas dessert!

Happy holidays, Nemo.

Posted Image <---- St. Nicolas saying Wesołych Świąt !
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Geoffrey-ZNS
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We celebrate on both. Christmas Eve (tonight) we'll go to my cousin's house for dinner. We used to do a name exchange and give gifts but we stopped that once all of us kids were grown up and stopped caring about it as much.

Christmas day my immediate family will be together, open gifts, go out to eat, etc. and then we'll go to another part of the family that afternoon and then another part that evening.
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Nemomon
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Helena
Dec 24 2011, 02:36 PM
ah yes..the vodka. And the cherry wine.

My grandfather made cherry wine every year and broke it out out for Christmas (the whole twelve days of it.)

I'm sure Ksawier will have a better Christmas next year (and subsequently, so will you and Mrs. Nemo) once he is a bit older. mmm... I love pierogi with white cheese too... fried in butter (of course) with cherry preserves on them. A favorite christmas dessert!

Happy holidays, Nemo.

Posted Image <---- St. Nicolas saying Wesołych Świąt !


Hehe Helena, what it would be a holiday without a vodka? :P By that "cherry wine" have You thought about a moonshine? Own made wine tastes great. I like to drink it from time to time.

This year Ksawier got a car transporter with a concrete mixer. In fact he was not interested in it much, maybe when he will be older. In fact he had a great Christmas this year - he was keep sneaky "stealing" everything what was within his sight. We have had a nice laugh when something went missing or when we were forced to hide for example cutlery from his sight. Two times he spilt the compote on the floor xD.

Thank You for Your and Dziadka Mroza Świętego Mikołaja wishes! :wub: I myself would want to wish

Tobie, Twojej rodzinie: Twoim dziadkom, rodzeństwu, rodzicom i przyjaciołom, a także dzieciom i mężowi Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia! Spełnienia marzeń, gromadki wesołych i pociesznych dzieci, męża tyrającego jak wół[1], a przede wszystkim zdrowia i zadowolenia ze swojej pracy!

Twój Nemomon~
[1] Tego może jednak nie ^^".
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Ayothes
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It's Christmas Day in Australia!

Christmas and Christmas Eve are pretty much the same in Australia as they would be in Canada or America. For our family in particular, they're not very traditional - we'll have a nice meal, and we'll usually have gotten some big family gift earlier in the year, sometimes a trampoline, in this case, Gold Passes for three theme parks in the Gold Coast. That's why it's not usually very big - we already got our presents!

It's mostly about the religious side for us.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6
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Wesdude
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For my family it's mostly a Christmas Day event. We go to the house of whoevers turn it is that year and have dinner and drinks. I almost forgot that the day starts with gift opening; which is always a good time. :P
Christmas Eve has never really been a big deal in my family. We will usually visit my grandma as she doesn't really like to go anywhere these days. So that's what we did this afternoon.

It sure would be nicer if there was some snow though. Seems like Christmas just creeped up on me this year.
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Lothlómendil
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My father's side of my family does their dinner get together and gift exchange on Christmas Eve. The rest of my family does Christmas Day, so I get to spend quality time with everyone on both days instead of trying to squeeze it all into one day. ^_^

:loth:
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Tony
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This year, I visited my grandmother and friends on Saturday, before going to work until midnight, then headed straight to my sister's about two in the morning (Sunday), where the family are having dinner, visiting my brother, opening gifts, drinking, and watching a couple of stand-up comedy DVD's I purchased. As Jon, I am back at work Monday, but will be having another dinner. We usually have dinner's / do family visits / e.t.c. e.t.c. on Christmas day and Boxing day.

Merry Christmas to everyone, and happy holidays to everyone else. =)
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Brian
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Go Irish!

My family has always done a dinner on Christmas eve, followed by Mass/presents on Christmas day. So I'd say its a fairly even split.
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John-ZNS
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Hannukah. :r
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Nemomon
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Grandfather Frost and communism!
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Hissae2
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Christmas eve is a normal day for me. On christmas day I get up (Usually woken up by my dad at 6AM at the latest :P), open gifts, eat food. Then I go back to my moms at about 3 and open more gifts and eat more food. My parents are seperated so it's like 2 christmas' on the same day.
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