Share your Polish Christmas experiences.

Share your christmas experiences.
I love everything about christmas traditions and want to learn more about Poland.
This year we are spending christmas in Poland. I'm Welsh and my wife is Polish, our son is now two. It his first christmas in Poland also we are celebrating his second birthday. We're looking forward to good food, surrounded by lots of friends, family and of course neighbors. I plan on writing about our time in Poland over Christmas on the Blog ahouseinpoland.blogspot.com

Christmas eve (wigilia)
for me this is terrible, I like most polish food but unfortunately I don't like
Beetroot soup (barszcz czerwony)
Pickled herrings (śledż)
Pierogi (don't know the english translation)
Carp

So for me this is one night when I usually go very hungry.

Maybe there is one more thing I miss about the UK! Christmas eve in the pub, rolling home **** faced , downing 'Santa's glass of sherry, half his mince pie, and unfortunately a few bites at rudolph's carrot. Followed by the kids diving into the bedroom at 05:00 screaming that ' he's been', whilst your suffering the mother of all hangovers.

On Christmas day we usually do the English bit with the turkey etc. Which is just as well as I'm starving from the night before.

Ha Ha my wife likes all of the above.
There's a big feast planned on Christmas eve Polish style and on christmas day I'm planning on preparing a UK meal, this all depends on my hangover.

I know what you mean about Pickled herring "WHY DO PEOPLE EAT THIS"

I don't like beetroot soup and I detest carp, pickled herring is OK from time to time. It doesn't matter this year as I'll be in Germany for Christmas.

Not a horrible place to be.. they've got these chocolates filled with booze -- good stuff.

Right now it is....still no snow! :(

I can give you some of ours. The snowstorm yesterday brought 25 cm of snow. Took me 4 hours to clear my driveway and front steps. Ughh.

Please do! *holds bags open*

It's no right winter solstice without winter! :(

Because it is yummy with vodka.

I took a picture last year after a snowstorm; we opened the front door in the morning and the snow was up half the height. THAT'S winter!

Stop bragging and share! :)

Wandering over the mulled wine markets without ice drops hanging from your nose is only half of the fun...
What's next? A palm tree planted in the midst of the market place??? :(

No sharing! Get your own :P

Don't taunt him. Those Germans have a habit of taking what they want.

They're sold in the U.S. too. The chocolates need to be eaten whole. If you bite into the chocolate, the booze drips down your chin. Great for playing a holiday joke on someone. I gave one to my mom once!

Yeah... could settle down the kiddies as well. ;- )

Hey everybody!, I wonder what does Polish ppl do for christmas because, i was asked for my boyfriend to spend chritsmas with his parents as his parents are coming from Poland to México to spend christmas here, but i have no idea how they will spend chirstmas time here, because they will be in my country but somehow i will be the only mexican in the dinner so... any advices, what do u usually do for christmas?. By the way i haven't met the family yet and i don't speak polish so that makes me a LITTLE nervious :S

Christmas Eve is a marathon for my family. We get up at 6 AM to get to making pierogi. But the time we get to Moj Polska Babcia- it is around 8 AM. Then we start making the dough and the fillings. Then the hard work comes in. We have only 3 people that do most of the work (myself[13], my mom[41] and my aunt[60]) then my polska babcia (89) fills them one by one like she did for her whole life. Then we get to making the Gołabki and sometimes Bigos. Then our hungarian culture comes and I make (as i am the only one who know's the recipes from my Great-Grandmother as i can understand her hungarian) Csirke Paprikás and Noodles and Potatoes (dont remember the name)

Then we make our fish (now tilapia but in the home land, they used Carp) and other side dishes. Only 7 days until my marathon starts!

Do zobaczenia.

In my house it goes like that:

After all the food has been prepared, some a day earlier some a few, on 24th around 17:00 all the family that lives close by arrives, we all get a christmas wafer and we exchange it around while wishing each other various things, good health, good year and so on. After it we seat down and eat the christmas dinner. Following the christmas dinner is the carol singing with piano or guitar accompaniment. Because I've never been too fond of training carols playing on piano or guitar it usually ends up in a little bit of mess and cacophony. While we are singing somebody sneaks to the christmas tree room and distributes all the goodies and presents under it than he ring the doorbell and sneaks back. Everyone go to check what happaned and check ( in their amazement ) that presents appeared - we keep on doing this little play even though my sis is already 18 not mentioning me. I'll probably do the same thing with my kids, I remember it was always a magic moment for me when I was a kid :)

Christmas eve will be a panic, buying pressies and last minute foodstuffs, then its off to the pub which will be mobbed with people I haven't seen for ages.

Then its home, drink Santas dram and bit of shortbread, throw half of Rudolphs carrot in the bin. Making sure that the reindeer dust has been disturbed.

Wake up at some ungodly hour, watch the bairn open present after present - think to myself that next year I wont buy so much.

Family start to arrive, everyone comes to my house - I love having the house full of family - kids, grannies, surly teenagers etc etc. For once everyone gets on and theres no arguing.

Then its showtime ! The dinner is my thing !
Secret being in the preparation. Just put everything in roasting dishes - everything has to be timed to perfection so that its all ready at the same time. Nobody gets in the kitchen unless they are there for a purpose.

Then we have the meal - a real gutbuster.
Afterwards we will all sit in the living room and fall asleep watching an old movie.

A few drinks in the evening of some weird stuff that you would only drink at Christmas and then off to bed quite happy.

well, i avoided carp, but had panga , the beetroot, n mushroom soup was the best things tbh
though the whole 12 dishes things was unusual to me, oh and no meat, coming from every year huge slabs of meat to none was a suprise

and the fish that were alive up until a few hours before the meal was a shock too