The Christmas holidays are a time when the whole family gets together around one table, enjoys dinner together and spends nice moments together. Christmas carols are playing in the house and somewhere in the subconscious you can smell the delicate scent of pine needles. Christmas inherently includes Christmas baking, which is every housewife's prerogative. Whether it's classic gingerbread, linzer cookies or bear paws. Every family also has its own customs, which are mostly handed down from generation to generation. And that's what's really beautiful about Christmas.
Our Christmases always meant pulling a festive dining set out of the display case, which we used probably twice a year. Eating from it was always a blast. First it had to be washed nicely , then the table was set and the cutlery polished. as children we couldn't wait for it to get dark, because from outside the window we watched the colourful flashing lights of the neighbours.
In the meantime, Mom heated up the cabbage soup that had been cooking all day and put it in a beautiful porcelain bowl. The wafers and honey were placed in the bowl and on small plates, and the carp and salad were already resting in large bowls. All the prayers were said, the wafer was eaten, and we scooped up the cabbage soup. Then we couldn't wait for the mayonnaise salad, which we really only eat one day a year.
After dinner, we looked out the window again to see if we could see Jesus at someone's house and when the bell rang, we knew he had just stopped by:) We ran to the tree but didn't see him again. He just quickly brought a present and ran off to make other children happy.
We keep our Christmas traditions even though we are not children anymore. Not so many years ago, we still spent Christmas at my parents' house and the traditional jingle bell was heard even though we were grown up. Now that we have families of our own, we have brought other customs, like welcoming guests at the Christmas table or the different foods that everyone knows just from mom and simply can't imagine Christmas without. on the other hand, we also respect tradition and the Christmas table is always nicely set. We pull out the best china, decorate the table nicely, add a candle holder and when it gets dark we light the candles. To the soft melody of Christmas carols, we dig into the salad and, for good luck, put the scales from the carp in our purse.
Christmas customs and Christmas dinner vary greatly from region to region and from family to family. In some places it is inconceivable not to eat cabbage soup, in others there is no cooking at all on Christmas Eve, but lentil, mushroom or bean soup, for example, is served. In some places, wafers, with honey and garlic for good health, are enough on the Christmas table, while in others, traditional bobalky are prepared. It is also a popular custom, for example, to set the table for an unannounced guest.
Whatever your customs, Christmas is above all a holiday of peace, so be sure to enjoy it with your loved ones.
