A Polish Christmas eve
so tonight i went with tim to his aunt's house to have Christmas eve dinner with his mom's side of the family. ive been warned by him previous times that they're weird and crazy and that i may not like it over there.
so i was a little timid in my decision to go, but i thought it would be fun to be around a large family as opposed to going over to my neighbors with my parents.
conclusion: sooo glad i went!!!!!!!! tim's family is super polish and i guess there is this crazy tradition they always do and let me tell you it was amazing!
so here's how it went-
on the car ride there tim explained this tradition to me, he's like "you give everyone a hug and a kiss and break their Jesus cracker." and i am thinking "your family is a bunch of crackers, what?" and then i stop and think and he clarifies that everyone takes a WAIFER (like the kind in church but bigger with a little image on it) and u go around telling everyone merry christmas and break off a piece of their waifer and then eat it.
so after sittin around munchin on some food the time comes.
i see a little girl passing around a tray of what i first thought was cheese and then realized it was cracker time.
i took my cracker/waifer and then one of tim's uncles tells me again how the whole thing works and hes like "and watch out for the perverts." hahahah.
so there's like at least 25 people in this house so after everyone took their waifer we all said grace and then got up and started the awesome cracker breaking process. at first i was kinda nervous but my nerves were set at ease quickly when i realized how normal this was to everyone and u just walked around breaking off a piece of everyones waifers and then saying Merry Christmas and hugged.
i had never hugged so many people i didn't know all at the same time (this is where i get cheesey) but it really made it feel like Christmas. all these people i had never met before were hugging me and wishing me a merry christmas and it made me feel so welcome, and any feelings of awkwardness pretty much disappeared.
after that i was so glad that i went with tim to his aunts house because not only did i get to be around a huge family, i also just learned this awesomely unique polish tradition that i will never forget. little slice of culture always feels good for sure.
so i was a little timid in my decision to go, but i thought it would be fun to be around a large family as opposed to going over to my neighbors with my parents.
conclusion: sooo glad i went!!!!!!!! tim's family is super polish and i guess there is this crazy tradition they always do and let me tell you it was amazing!
so here's how it went-
on the car ride there tim explained this tradition to me, he's like "you give everyone a hug and a kiss and break their Jesus cracker." and i am thinking "your family is a bunch of crackers, what?" and then i stop and think and he clarifies that everyone takes a WAIFER (like the kind in church but bigger with a little image on it) and u go around telling everyone merry christmas and break off a piece of their waifer and then eat it.
so after sittin around munchin on some food the time comes.
i see a little girl passing around a tray of what i first thought was cheese and then realized it was cracker time.
i took my cracker/waifer and then one of tim's uncles tells me again how the whole thing works and hes like "and watch out for the perverts." hahahah.
so there's like at least 25 people in this house so after everyone took their waifer we all said grace and then got up and started the awesome cracker breaking process. at first i was kinda nervous but my nerves were set at ease quickly when i realized how normal this was to everyone and u just walked around breaking off a piece of everyones waifers and then saying Merry Christmas and hugged.
i had never hugged so many people i didn't know all at the same time (this is where i get cheesey) but it really made it feel like Christmas. all these people i had never met before were hugging me and wishing me a merry christmas and it made me feel so welcome, and any feelings of awkwardness pretty much disappeared.
after that i was so glad that i went with tim to his aunts house because not only did i get to be around a huge family, i also just learned this awesomely unique polish tradition that i will never forget. little slice of culture always feels good for sure.