A Very Merry Christmas

Things you should know about me:

1) I love my birthday (which I should've mentioned by now and if I haven't well you should know this - it was basically the subject of my senior thesis at Dartmouth).

2) I love Christmas. Not as much as my birthday but it is a pretty close second.

3) Don't ask if I am a cat or dog person because I love both but if push comes to shove I'll choose cats and this can end friendships.

It is also (as you may have noticed) almost six months after Christmas. I realise that this blog is very behind the times. HOWEVER, the silver lining (and, gosh, is it shiny) is that I get to write and think about Christmas in the middle of June which is just putting a smile on my face. Quick disclaimer: I am sorry there are so few pictures. I was busy cooking.

Getting back to the story:

IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME! IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME! I love Christmas. I’m a little sad that as I am writing this, I have 11 months to wait (but my birthday is in less than two months so that’s conciliatory)*.

As I have already mentioned, my mother’s family is Polish. In Poland, the big celebration for Christmas is on Christmas Eve and is called Wigilia. My dad’s family is English and celebrate on Christmas day so we have always done both meals. Wigilia is dinner on the 24th of December and has some wonderful traditional dishes: for starters Barszcz ( a soup made from beetroot; pronounced Bar-sh-ch), the main course is fish (wonderfully prepared by my dad), and for dessert we had stollen which, yes I know, is german but we couldn’t get any of the Polish equivalent. It was a totally delicious meal. The table was also decorated with hay (for the manger), nuts and chocolates which you snack on after dessert. You are also supposed to set one extra place setting (as a symbol of hospitality – if mary and joseph come knocking on your door, you’re totally ready) but we seem to have forgotten that this year. Luckily, Mary and Joseph did not come knocking. Perhaps because it is 2016 and we were in Johannesburg. After the starters, we also break the opłatek (pronounced op-wah-teck). Everyone breaks a piece of this special Christmas wafer (thanks mom) with everyone else and you say :many best wishes for the coming year" or that equivalent in Polish.

I ate way too much for starters and then went on to eat my weight in fish and stollen. And then of course you have to eat the nuts and chocolate on the table. This resulted in not being able to move after dinner. Presents are also traditionally opened on Christmas Eve when the first star appears – but we just open one (and then the rest on Christmas day).

Christmas morning I woke up at 6:15 and then remembered that I wasn’t allowed to wake anyone before 7am. Because I am inwardly still a small child, I sat excitedly in my bed watching the time CRAWL towards 7 o’clock. I jumped on James as soon as I could and we went to wake my parents.

We start Christmas morning (when we are at home) with opening presents and eating Panetone**. If you have never had panetone, you have not LIVED. Alright, I exaggerate a bit – but it is absolutely delicious. I always eat most of it for breakfast. It was my present, my dad had brought a really nice one all the way from Switzerland. It was delicious. I am counting down the days till I can eat it next year. We opened one present each between the four of us and then proceeded to the kitchen. This is my third Christmas where I have been in charge of Christmas dinner and in Ted’s kitchen – it was a dream. He has two ovens and that made timing so much easier.

Our menu was as follows:

Starters: salami rolls with asparagus and cream cheese, mozzarella and tomato salad

Main Course: Turkey with apple and sausage stuffing, vegetarian stuffing (onion and sage), roast potatoes, grilled brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce (yes, I stole it from Thanksgiving), celery salad (made by Barbara), a cooked ham (done by my mom – she boils it in beer and then roasts it with a honey glaze), and we also did some fish for my cousins’ grandmother who was able to come as well as she doesn’t eat meat.

Dessert: Christmas pudding with brandy butter, special chocolates from Switzerland, Christmas fruit cake.

This is not the most instagrammable of pictures. Forgive me.

I can’t believe I am so behind on my blog that I am writing this two weeks after the fact – it’s cruel actually. I am getting hungry and my mouth is water just remembering this meal. Needless to say – I could not move afterwards. I took a nap.

(HA HA HA - I am laughing at the fact that I would post this two weeks after christmas. This still applies though - I am getting very hungry reading about this.

Christmas was really special for a number of reasons this year. It was lovely to have Shirley with us. She is a big part of my Christmas memories. When we still lived in South Africa and did Christmas with the Grobickis, Shirley would often come. My favourite memory is her sitting with me, teaching me how to sketch – she is a great painter. I – sadly – do not have that skill at all. Secondly, this was my best Christmas dinner yet! I am getting better each year. I love cooking it – although I do get a little territorial in the kitchen. But this year I got the timing right and everything was hot when it was served on the table! I was quite proud.

It was also so nice having so much family. It is usually just my parents, my brother and two of our family friends so it was really special to celebrate with extended family. We also went to church in the morning – and there were Christmas decorations everywhere, mince pies, Christmas carols. We didn’t get to go to a Christmas carol service this year, so this made up for it. During the service, we sang Silent Night in English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, and Zulu! It’s a beautiful snapshot of a new South Africa and hopefully a future towards which this county can move.

We opened all the presents in the afternoon. My main present this year was a toothbrush. Yes, you read that correctly. Sadly when one graduates from college/university, presents go from being very exciting to ‘can I please have money for groceries and underwear? Thank you’. This was quite a fancy toothbrush – it’s sonic and vibrates the plaque off your teeth. It also feels like I am killing off a few brain cells; let's just hope I have some to spare.

Christmas is such a special time for me: I love celebrating the polish traditions, I love cooking my family food, I love giving them presents that I have spent time picking out. Love is so palpable at this time of the year – there’s nothing quite like it.

I hope you all had wonderful Christmases (or other equivalent winter celebrations – as one very PC security guard wished us: “Compliments of the season”)***.

Much love from me xx

*I should now note: I only have 6 and a half months to wait!! Which is incredibly exciting. I do have 9 months till my birthday though, which is not fantastic.

**An Italian Christmas cake/bread with raisins.

***Six months late. But I do hope you all had wonderful holiday breaks.

#Family #SouthAfrica #Johannesburg #Christmas