Merry Christmas! We have had the most wonderful experience this Christmas...
Last evening we were invited to spend Christmas Eve with our neighbors. We are renting the house we are living in from them so technically they are our landlords. But we consider them so much more than that! We arrived at their home and were warmly greeted and introduced to some extended family members who were there.
The family consists of Mariusz (dad--next to Myles), Barbara (mom--right next to Natalie), Karol (23 year old son--next to Mariusz) and Anita (18 year old daughter--pictured below next to Karol with the guitar). Karol is engaged to Karolina and we have met her before, but she was spending Christmas Eve with her family. Anita is getting ready to graduate from high school in June. She is going to university in the fall to study music. She is a very talented vocalist. She also plays the violin.
Their table was overflowing with 12 different dishes. This was a traditional Polish Christmas dinner. There were several fish dishes (one was fish in jello--no kidding!). There were several types of pierogies. The mushroom ones were out of this world--so yummy! There were pasta dishes, one of which was made with honey and basil. That is different from anything I have tried before! There were at least five different desserts that I have never seen before. As we sat around the table, Karol brought his guitar out and the family sang Christmas Carols in Polish.
When Natalie was in 6th grade last year, her class learned a couple of Polish Christmas songs. Our hosts encouraged Natalie to start singing one of the songs and as soon as they recognized it (very quickly) they all joined in. Then they sang Jingle Bells just for us!
They showed us family photos including Mariusz and Barbara's wedding pictures and Mariusz's parents' wedding photos. His parents were there last evening. They also showed us some photos of when they went to Rome in 2001. They have a photo of nine year old Anita sitting at the feet of Pope John Paul II and they are speaking to each other! They had gone to Rome with a choir group and were singing for the Pope. Security had asked the group to move along but Pope John Paul II motioned for Anita to come see him. One photo in particular was incredible--little Anita is gazing into the eyes of the Pope and he is looking at her so lovingly. I asked them if they would make a scanned copy for me. When I get that I will post it. We got home at about 9:30 and everyone went to bed.
The kids were up early--I mean TREY was up early to see what Santa brought. He and I got everyone else up and moving and opening presents.
People here in Poland go to midnight mass for Christmas. We did not do that. We went to 9:30 mass this morning with all of the old people who also did not go to midnight mass. I think there were seven children in the church this morning (and four of those were mine!). The vast majority of the other attendees were over 75! The church was decorated beautifully with large Christmas trees and a gorgeous Nativity scene. Also, one of the songs they sang at church this morning was the same one that Natalie knew from the Christmas program last year so that was fun!
After mass we came home and finished packing for our trip. We took the train to Warszawa where we are spending the night. We had Christmas dinner in the hotel restaurant tonight. It was a bit unorthodox but a good family day, so that's all that counts! Tomorrow we are continuing our trip and will arrive in Bratislava, Slovakia in the evening.
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