Christmas Eve has always been a more important and more fun of a day than Christmas Day. Mainly because of the Polish Traditions that I have been brought up into since I was little. Christmas has always been about family to me. Tonight they were my mom, her sister, her mom (who we have always called Nana), my dad, my brother Adam, his wife Jennifer and her mom.
The Christmas dinner begins with the Opłatek (a Christmas Wafer) which is pronounced "Oh-pwah-tek." The sacred white wafer, a semi-transparent wafer of unleavened dough stamped with scenes of the nativity, are shared with each person present. During the exchange, good wishes are expressed. Then we start eating. A Polish dish I always look forward to at Christmas is the Gołabki (Cabbage Roll-Ups) which is pronounced "goh-wab-kee." This Christmas there were 2 different kinds, one with meat and the other with buckwheat. I always like to eat the meat one.
For desert was 2 cakes, the booze cake and the poppy seed cake, a pumpkin pie and a Reese's peanut butter cup cake made by Adam and Jennifer. They are really good but my favorite has always been the booze cake.
This year Adam and Jennifer had us play games which were really fun. Then we opened presents.
As always, a great Christmas with the family.
More about the Opłatek
More about the Polish Christmas Eve Dinner
Wesołych Świąt (Merry Christmas)!
