Czech Christmas!

Hello all,

I wanted to let you all know what a traditional Christmas in Czech is like.

First, they do everything on the 24th, that is their "Christmas Day". The 25th is spent with extended family, traveling if necessary, etc.

Most families don't eat anything all day so they can be very hungry for the Christmas dinner. There is a saying that you will see the Golden Pig because you are so hungry (a hallucination). It didn't happen to me though because my family does eat some during the day, they eat lentil soup and pasta salad, just no meat.
They also don't put up their Christmas tree until this day. So, the day is very relaxing, prepareing for the christmas Dinner and decorating the tree. Their trees are definately different, but I kinda like them.
Then comes the dinner. No one is aloud to get up until everyone is finished (a superstition), they always have an extra place setting in case there is someone who should be alone on Christmas.
The dinner begins with a toast everyone says "Nazdravi" which is their version of cheers and means "to health". When you are toasting you must look everyone in the eye as you say Nazdravi and you also must never cross arms.
Then we enjoy the meal. The typical czech Christmas meal is Carp with some side dish. We had potatoe salad. We also had Turkey shnitzelThe food was soooo good!!! Several of my kid students told me they hate carp because of all the bones in it, so I was a little worried about that. BUT, the bones are nothing compared to some fish I had in China where there was seriously more bones than meat. That is what I was afraid of, but it was very very delicious.
Then if there are small children in the home during dinner "Ježišek" or baby Jesus (their version of santa clause) comes and puts the presents under the tree. Then the child sees them and a bell is rung and everyone goes to open their presents.
So, we just finished eating and opened our presents. I got some beautiful handmade ornaments from Hanka and her Babička (grandmother). I also got some very soft, warm gloves, hankerchiefs, a big bear pillow, and a chocolate santa.

Then after they open presents they watch traditional Czech fairy tales on TV. There are many, the one I watched and tried to pay attention to is called "Tři Orisky pro Popelku". Which literally translates to "Three nuts for Cinderella" and is obviously their version of Cinderella. It's very similar, she has birds that help her, the bring her three magic nuts that have special outfits so she can sneak out and be with the prince. She also leaves her shoe when leaving the ball and the prince finds her that way. Here is a clip from the movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUMCqHbhq8k
Then we rested some and went to midnight mass. That was very beautiful. They had a wonderful choir that sang up stairs behind us so it felt like Angels were singing behind us. Very nice.
Then we came home, I was told we were having "nocoře" which means like night meal or night dinner. Man, they eat all the time. So, I went to bed so I would stop eating. :)

That is how my first Christmas in Czech went. It was definately a wonderful day. I have felt very welcome in this home even though I wish I knew a ton more Czech so I could talk to her family. But, there is so much that can be said without words! The mom even told me I look like I could be a part of the family, like an aunt or something. Hooray! :)

Love you all and Vesele Vánoce! (Merry Christmas!)