The best holiday tradition here. I'm of Polish decent. Our Christmas Eve meal is a big deal. The whole family gets together and has traditional Polish Fare, three kinds of Pierogi, potato pieces boiled then sauteed in oil and onions, fish, mushrooms, peas, rice, prunes, olives, candy, wine and soft drinks followed by cookies, nut and poppyseed roll for dessert. Before the meal there is a large rectangular shaped wafer (consistency of communion wafer) everyone has a piece and those at the table break off a piece or yours and you of theirs and eats it, it's called Oplatki. I've always loved our traditional Christmas Eve better than any other Holiday tradition.

Mass is at 4:30 for us. I am ill hearing about "sing along" services. We really have lost our way. When my MIL was alive we would go with them to the Children's play~ her churches excuse for a Christmas service. Have we really forgotten we need to Thank and Praise HIM for all our blessings, particularly today!!

Our 'out-laws' (DIL's parents) have a traditional Polish Christmas Vigil meal on Christmas Eve. Last night there were twenty of us at table. Champagne is served before dinner. Then there is a sharing of wafers where each person greets every other person attending, eating bits of one another's wafers. The purpose is to mend any old year's discords and wish good things for the coming year. The table is set with the best china, silver and crystal. There is straw under the white tablecloth to evoke the manger in the stable. DIL's father reads from the Bible -- and this year recounted his first nativity play, where he played the ass! Then the meal begins with homemade soup made from imported Polish mushrooms. (Evidently becoming scarce.) Salmon has been a welcome addition to dinner in recent years. The rest of the meal is varieties of pirogi and cooked cabbage. After dinner there is an enormous sweets table with homemade cakes, cookies and candy. (DGS pointed out the six kinds of cookies and the caramels he had helped his mom make. Doubly delicious!) When the children can't stand it another second, the mound presents under the tree is attacked! Towards the end of that, carols are sung in English and in Polish. DH and I drive home while some of the family goes on to mass. (DH and I are not Catholic -- which becomes more 'OK' with passing years. It's nice to visit with DIL's big, extended family.) Today is bright and sunny near Lake Michigan's shores. I see walkers, joggers, and dog walkers passing along our street already. DH and I have had our breakfast -- with the stollen I *finally* found! Happy Christmas Day, good KT friends!

Cleaned up and ready for bed! Dinner went well. A few people cancelled due to icy roads, everyone else made it and as each new group arrived they were hailed as heroes. It really is crazy slick out there. I decided to steam the crabs, but to assuage my vegan friend, I first chilled the crabs by setting them outside until they went dormant, then placed each one in boiling water to kill it quickly, before transferring to the steamer. 25 minutes steaming. The crabs were very good, although I can't say they were dramatically different than boiled crabs. After dinner, getting ready for a white elephant present game. SWMBO is sitting at the piano. The man in the black sweater is a standup comic, a very funny guy. His wife has white hair and is also wearing a black sweater. She was a model in England in the early 1990s, now a makeup artist for film, TV, and print. She recently returned to England and reconnected with her friend who fronted the BritPop band "Lick" and, for a brief moment, was in the limelight, then walked away from music. https://youtu.be/jYeAE4y6Vkg She and her friend are working on a book or screenplay or something about those days. It is an interesting story. The English music scene then was controlled by a few labels and promoters who choose which bands to make into stars. He was overtly gay and that was still unacceptable in the industry. They struggled, finally found a label, started touring and released an album, then the pressure blew the band up and he decided it wasn't for him. He recently regained control of his band's music and I've been listening to their first and only record. Not exactly my kind of music now (or then - in the 1990s I was a jazz snob), but it sounds pretty fresh even 25 years later. We haven't had a big dinner party for quite a while. It was fun to shake off some of the rust and get a bunch of friends together. Finally, here's the cat with her Christmas present, knitted by DD. She doesn't mind wearing it.