My mum loves big families. She was happy to accept my boyfriend to our family circle and even happier for we celebrate with them every year (as Ales's family does not celebrate Christmas for personal and religious reasons). The holiday has the same schedule every year.
We start on the 24th in the morning by eating "Vánočka" - it is a Christmas bread cake twisted in a braid, full of almonds and raisins (also butter) - and watching fairy tales. We usually don't eat lunch as there will be plenty of food later. At around three p.m. we leave the house to visit my grandma (who lives about 200m from my parent's house and 400m from our flat), taste her Christmas pastries, potato salad, have a coffee and exchange gifts (no unwrapping yet, we just put them under the tree).Then we go back to my parent's house and start preparing dinner. My mum has everything ready before, but the fish soup needs to be heated and the carp fillets wrapped in breadcrumbs batter and fried. Everyone's helping in the kitchen but my dad, who (probably) sets the presents under the tree (most of us sneaked in to the living room earlier that day to place ours). Then we lay the table and make sure everything is there, as no one should stand up during the Christmas supper. After stuffing our belly's we help clean the kitchen and then sit in the former children's room (my sisters are 19, so technically there are no children living there), my mum plays the piano and we all sing carols. My dad usually leaves somewhere in the middle to set up sparklers and ring the bell (which is the sign that baby Jesus came and brought the presents). We move to the living room, wish each other Merry Christmas! and start unwrapping our presents.
No comments:
Post a Comment