Merry Christmas!
Well, I celebrate Christmas when most everybody else does, but I still have Orthodox friends and family members who celebrate Old Christmas today, January 7th.
Anna and I like to celebrate today, too.
I was travelling on Christmas, so we took the chance to have a Christmas party for our friends, and to celebrate our Eastern European heritage.
We were already celebrating Western Theophany (Three Kings Day) yesterday, and, since everybody's back from their Christmas travels, my church likes to celebrate a traditional Christmas fast dinner on the same weekend. We sang traditional Christmas songs, said prayers, and ate special food. No meat or dairy is allowed. Prunes, mushrooms, and sauerkraut aren't usually foods I like, but at Christmas, they turn delicious!
Anything's delicious if you put it in perohi, and sauerkraut and lekvar (prunes) are actually two of my favorites.
(When we're eating dairy, I love the ones with spinach or broccoli and cheese, too.)
Lekvar cookies make a yummy dessert, too!
Another yummy dessert is babalki, which are little sweet dough balls dipped in honey and poppyseeds.
I'm glad I still have some of mine from my old dance troupe. They're store bought, but I want to re-make my old Hutsul outfit, too.
We hurried downstairs to find our friends finishing up some last-minute present-wrapping.
Lu brought the paper.
Cady brought cards.
Josefina helped put the finishing touches on presents with pretty bows.
And little Kayla supervised.
Meanwhile, Jess put the finishing touches on the tree...
And Samantha and Addy helped.
Samantha found my trumpet ornament!
Kirsten came dressed in a traditional outfit, too, and she told us about a tradition she brought from Sweden - St. Lucia's day. She celebrates it on the traditional darkest day of the year, and the oldest girl celebrates by dressing up and making a special breakfast to share with her family after she wakes them up. Her Christmas wreath crown would be lit up with bright candles.
Kirsten told us that St. Lucy's day is also celebrated in Slovakia. She challenged us to learn more about it so we can celebrate together next year.
Some girls from Eastern Europe celebrate another holiday in December.
Lindsey brought her Menorah that she used when she celebrated the Jewish holiday of Chanukah in December.
She also brought dreidel toys as a present, showed us how to play the game, and taught us a song in Hebrew. "Sevivon" was fun to sing!
Do you know any songs in another language?
Rachel had fun picking her favorite color dreidel.
Kathleen and Rachel had a lot of fun playing Dreidel together.
We took a break from games to open some presents.
My friends loved the book I found for them.
Dell got some Hopscotch Hill outfits to share with their original owners.
Hopscotch tops fit her well, though the pants are a little long.
Hand-me downs are great, when your new nice, warm, coat looks this good!
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