Thursday, December 24, 2009

Virtual Advent Tour 2009 -Christmas Eve Dinner



I was so excited about the Virtual Advent Tour that when I joined I asked to post twice, not once during the advent. In my first post I wrote about what advent meant to me when I was a kid. Today, on Christmas Eve, I will write about how my family celebrates this very special day.

Ever since I can remember, Christmas Eve has always been just as important as Christmas Day. The Christmas Eve dinner is to us what Thanksgiving dinner is to most of Americans, the time for the whole family to get together, to give thanks for the passing year's blessings and to also pray for what the next year's bringing.

Yes, you read that right, I mentioned last year and new year. That's because, as I mentioned in my first Advent Tour post, my family observed the laws of Roman Catholic church and Christmas Eve ends the liturgical year and begins the new year.

This very special night is full of anticipation, happiness and joyous thoughts as we wait for the birth of Jesus, the Savior. All day long everyone gets involved in preparing the house for the big dinner which usually takes place where the oldest family member lives. In my case, it was the house of my maternal grandparents and my grandma was the person in charge.


Let's concentrate on what we have for dinner first. There always have to be 12 dishes and the only meat allowed is fish. Everything else is non-meat. The tradition is for everyone to at least try, if not eat the full plates, every single dish or food that's served, because they all have a purpose. For instance, we eat a little bit of garlic to be outspoken for the next year or peas and cabbage for the strength (usually physical health). There is also no alcohol drinking until the Christmas Day. The thing that I have always thought to be the most important is that there is always an extra seat, with extra plate reserved for whoever might wonder in on this special night, a hungry, homeless person, someone who is lonely, a lost wanderer or maybe even a ghost of a family member who passed away and didn't find his/her way to the other world yet.

When do we start the dinner, you might ask? Usually the children go outside and wait for the first star to appear in the sky. It is a symbol of the Bethlehem Star that led the Three Wise Men to the manger where Jesus was born. When the star is up the kids all run back to the house yelling with excitement that it's time to start the dinner. I remember that it was very very exciting for me to stand outside and look up in the sky. Believe it or not, I don't ever remember a Christmas Eve where there was no star.


We all start the dinner with prayer, we then share Holy Wafer with one another wishing everyone all the best for the next year. It always very touching for me because no matter what the disagreements might have been throughout the year, on that one night we put them all away and try to start anew with only good wishes in our hearts.

The most exciting thing for me had always been the time after dinner when only children were allowed to go outside in a barn or stable (my grandparents were farmers and had all kinds of animals, sheep, cows, pigs, chickens) and listen to the animals try to speak in human tongue. We never did catch the animal do just that :) but we were children & children never give up nor disbelieve, so no matter that on one Christmas Eve we didn't hear animals talk because we would always return every year having faith that because the whole night was magical we might get lucky that time. Just because we didn't witness it, didn't mean it wasn't happening.

Last but not least, because I grew up in times where there was little to no money and really not much to buy in the stores either, even if one did have money (communism and socialism in Poland ended when I was 12 years old, so I remember a lot from that horrible time), there were no presents under the Christmas tree. And it was completely fine with the children, because we grew up truly believing that Christmas is not about the presents at all. As kids, we never felt at a disadvantage because we got no presents. Christmas Eve was a special, magical night filled with joy and happiness.

13 comments:

  1. How wonderful! And I never knew that garlic makes you outspoken!

    Merry Christmas to you and your family, and thanks for sharing your traditions!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks so much for sharing, Lilly. Those are some wonderful memories.

    Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am part Sicilian, so there has always been plenty of garlic consumed by my family -- maybe that explains a lot! :-D

    Lilly, this is a beautiful post! I especially love the tradition of the empty chair. Honestly, most of my Christmas memories -- while wonderful -- are laden with materialism. And, in every way that counts, yours are so much richer!

    Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Our Christmas Eve vigil will celebrate my husband's Italian heritage -- with lots of seafood and garlic as well :)

    You have done a marvelous job of reminding all of us of the true meaning of Christmas - and not the number of gifts under the tree.

    May this Christmas Eve night be especially meaningful for you and your family.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Christmas Eve in my house was
    almost the same, no meat, who
    cared it the most wonderful
    meal ever. We followed the Roman
    Catholic tradition with Ukranian
    foods and it is my most happy memory of Christmas I have.
    I do so miss those Christmas
    Eves.
    Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones and of course all of
    your followers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lilly,

    Wishing you and your a special time this holiday season.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Merry Christmas :)
    Have a lovely holiday

    That sounds lovely

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for sharing your childhood Christmas with us, and merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your Christmas Eve does sound magical. Thank you for sharing it with us!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you so much for sharing your Christmas Eve with us. It does sound very magical.

    Thanks for supporting the Virtual Advent tour this year! Kelly and I really appreciate it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I stopped by your blog today and loved your post. I moved to the U.S. from England over 30 years ago with a three year old daughter.
    Ann
    www.cozyintexas.blogspot.com
    www.annsummerville.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow...what a wonderful post!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for sharing this terrific post with us Lilly. I always love to read about other people's traditions. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and much health & happiness to you and your family in the New Year.

    ReplyDelete