When I was a little girl, I wished to live in a large house full of siblings and have a large extended family, even more full of generational customs and traditions, beyond that.
Instead, I grew up in a small family. So I grew my own village.
My first husband was Ukranian and like many Slavic families, they served a Christmas Eve "feast within a fast" (a traditional Orthodox Nativity fast is six weeks long; abstinence from meat starting from November 15--at the very least--as well as dairy and eggs. The Nativity Fast is also known as St. Philip's Fast because it begins on his feast day).
So Christmas Eve, the night before the feast day (although the Eastern church counts the beginning of the new day at sundown) would feature a variety of festive, peasanty dishes (as the Slavs were, on the whole, not wealthy people), all of them meatless.
Generally, the family would serve twelve different items (one for each apostle), and dinner would begin at the sign of the first star, as spotted by the youngest member of the household.
Well, since we're homeless, the moved the cooking to Joshua's third floor apartment. His son Ezekiel is only a year and a half old, and although he is waaaaaay to young to be running outside to check the sky, well...let's just say he tried his best.
Tonight's menu (An asterik beside it indicates a recipe that is both traditional and generational in the Baran family):
* Fish
* Mushroom soup (with sauerkraut and barley)
* Cabbage, onions and kraut
* Bobalki
* Homemade Christmas Eve bread
* Homemade pirohi with homemade potato cheese filling (We made a couple hundred, actually. The recipe is mine. My ex-husband's family bought their pirohi.)
Vegetable tray and homemade dip
Fruit tray with caramel dip
Homemade apple-oat crisp (my recipe, a three-decade family favorite)
Homemade pumpkin pie (ditto, except Rebekah now makes it)
Assorted cheeses
Sparkling non-alcoholic beverages
Praise God my kids grew up cooking, which makes them something of Ninjas in the kitchen. We never made it to Joshua's until noon, as I had work to finish. Amber had to work, so Rebekah slept over the previous night with a shopping list; she and Joshua got most of the groceries (the boys and I still had to stop for a few items that I forgot to add to the list, oops!).
That morning, Joshua and Rebekah fabricated some of the ingredients, so we could get a few items going before Timothy and I left (I had to meet a group of teen boys at a restaurant for an interview at one-thirty).
Culinary festivities didn't officially begin until three o'clock. Tomorrow, we will celebrate Christmas with my parents, sister, and her family. The children and I will not celebrate our official family Christmas until December seventh, which is also Rebekah's twentieth birthday.
Ezekiel did open a few presents my mother sent along for him. Below, a few photos from the day.
Instead, I grew up in a small family. So I grew my own village.
My first husband was Ukranian and like many Slavic families, they served a Christmas Eve "feast within a fast" (a traditional Orthodox Nativity fast is six weeks long; abstinence from meat starting from November 15--at the very least--as well as dairy and eggs. The Nativity Fast is also known as St. Philip's Fast because it begins on his feast day).
So Christmas Eve, the night before the feast day (although the Eastern church counts the beginning of the new day at sundown) would feature a variety of festive, peasanty dishes (as the Slavs were, on the whole, not wealthy people), all of them meatless.
Generally, the family would serve twelve different items (one for each apostle), and dinner would begin at the sign of the first star, as spotted by the youngest member of the household.
Well, since we're homeless, the moved the cooking to Joshua's third floor apartment. His son Ezekiel is only a year and a half old, and although he is waaaaaay to young to be running outside to check the sky, well...let's just say he tried his best.
Tonight's menu (An asterik beside it indicates a recipe that is both traditional and generational in the Baran family):
* Fish
* Mushroom soup (with sauerkraut and barley)
* Cabbage, onions and kraut
* Bobalki
* Homemade Christmas Eve bread
* Homemade pirohi with homemade potato cheese filling (We made a couple hundred, actually. The recipe is mine. My ex-husband's family bought their pirohi.)
Vegetable tray and homemade dip
Fruit tray with caramel dip
Homemade apple-oat crisp (my recipe, a three-decade family favorite)
Homemade pumpkin pie (ditto, except Rebekah now makes it)
Assorted cheeses
Sparkling non-alcoholic beverages
Praise God my kids grew up cooking, which makes them something of Ninjas in the kitchen. We never made it to Joshua's until noon, as I had work to finish. Amber had to work, so Rebekah slept over the previous night with a shopping list; she and Joshua got most of the groceries (the boys and I still had to stop for a few items that I forgot to add to the list, oops!).
That morning, Joshua and Rebekah fabricated some of the ingredients, so we could get a few items going before Timothy and I left (I had to meet a group of teen boys at a restaurant for an interview at one-thirty).
Culinary festivities didn't officially begin until three o'clock. Tomorrow, we will celebrate Christmas with my parents, sister, and her family. The children and I will not celebrate our official family Christmas until December seventh, which is also Rebekah's twentieth birthday.
Ezekiel did open a few presents my mother sent along for him. Below, a few photos from the day.
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