The Butterfield Christmas Traditions

Well, all the good traditions start with Christmas Eve dinner... the table must have at least 7 different foods on it (why 7, I couldn't tell you): three different kinds of homemade pierogies (sauerkraut, potato, and cottage cheese), pickles, olives, and fish (2 different kinds this year). The table must have fish because my Granny always said that fish (and almonds) are the Lord's foods... it's always been smelts in the past but this year it's smelts and crab cakes, and thank God because I hate smelts, all those little bones, gross.

Then, after dinner, church. That is a relatively new tradition, we only started it after my dad left... and it is the one time a year that I go to church. I like it though, we go to the candlelight service. I know this sounds cheesy, but every single time we sing "Silent Night" in the dark, it makes me cry. AND, I have a bell that I wear on my coat when we go to church, my Gran gave it to me, it used to be hers... I wear it once a year and then it lives safely in my jewelry box for the rest of the time... a very "It's a Wonderful Life" kinda thing.

Then after church, we always watch Scrooge with Albert Finney before we go to bed. My Mutti always waits until after Matt and I go to bed before she puts the presents under the tree... I like that, I think it keeps the magic alive. Sweet.

Christmas Day, we wake up and open gifts then have a big breakfast then we start cooking dinner. I cook pounchkies ("poonch-key"), polish donuts. I only make them once a year because they are so labour intensive. You have to fry them in grease, so I'm sure they also majorly clog your arteries as well. This is another tradition that I took over for my Gran... she used to make the pounchkies, but she taught me before she died, and now I make them.

And my Uncle Jimmy and his family usually come over for Christmas dinner...

And that's Christmas in the nutshell, good food and lots of good times. Family to the fourth power and just lots of tomfoolery. Yeah.