Doing Christmas Slovak style again...

Christas this year was great- I finally spent it at home! Both in 2010 and in 2011 I was forced to stay in the States for Christmas day. The first year it was due to a huge snow storm over Europe which cut off all intercontinental flights, the second year I couldn't travel because the money was short. Thank God, this year flying home from France was much less expensive and without snow problems so I got to Slovakia in time to enjoy the Christmas atmosphere with my family again!

My little brother and I took to the decorating of some pepperkakkar (Swedish spice bread) from Ikea which are growing more popular in Slovakia. I was nicely surprised to find out that the French also love spice bread (pain d'épices) although using a slightly different recipe. The Slovaks traditionally prefer gingerbread or honey bread cookies, but new influences are expanding our pastry collections.

Here is a sample of the final result of our collective effort:



Looking yummy, huh? 

Slovaks are also quite picky about decorations around the house. Apart from the carefully set-up Christmas tree and twinkly stars and angels, we cover the whole house in embroidered blankets, tablecloths, pillowcases and the like. The more, the better goes the rule. We try to keep it tasteful, however, and at the very least we synchronize the colors.

Our main celebration is on December 24th which we call "the Generous Day" (Štedrý deň). Traditionally, we fast or at least eat no meat during the whole day to prepare for a grand dinner at around 5pm (not surprisingly, the fast is rarely a success with all the pastries around). The "king of the table" is usually a fish meal, most often a carp. Slovakia is a landlocked country and fish is not a staple dish. That is one of the reasons why we eat it on Christmas- it's one of those special, more expensive meals. Another reason often mentioned is the fact that the fish used to be a symbol of early Christians since they were called by Jesus to be the 'fishers of men'. That's why this symbol got brought onto our Christmas tables as a mark of the birth of Christ. Our family usually makes baked carp, accompanied by mayonnaise salad, preceded by wafers with honey and smeared with garlic (a weirdly sounding but delicious starter), mushroom soup, poppy milk rolls, porridge and mushroom sauce. Truly a grand dinner which you have to taste to really appreciate it.







After the dinner we unwrap the gifts and spend the evening chatting, watching Slovak and Czech fairy tale movies and going to the midnight mass, depending on the family. Here is what Little Jesus or Ježiško (our version of Father Christmas) brought to us this year...






To my great joy, we got some snow right before Christmas which stayed for some week or so. The trees outside our windows created these wonders on Christmas Day...

This made me wanna just stay outside and admire!

To add the last few pics, I have to say that far above the gifts, Slovak traditions or snow, the thing I enjoyed the most was the fact that I was with my family again. I know that in the coming years times like these will probably keep becoming less frequent and I want to make the best out of the ones that come my way now.

Me and my mom matching up :) 

 
With my brothers and our cousins whom we've always taken more as our own siblings (although curiously, one of them is my godchild).

And enjoying some chill time with my bros and a girlfriend of one of them. I wish I could take a picture of one of the wrestling fights we regularly practice with my brothers. Next time maybe!