Christmas with Bookatiepillar– My Christmas

I wrote about Traditional Slovakian Christmas in my previous article and today it is time to tell you what Bookatiepillar Christmas is like.

I live abroad since I finished a university; firstly I was in England and now I live in the Netherlands; so it is a tradition that first thing I buy for Christmas is a flight ticket home. My family lives in Slovakia and that is why I return there as much as I can. But it is a must for Christmas because the season is all about family. When I was little we spent Christmas with my grandparents; after they passed away it was only my mum and me. My parents are divorced and my dad spends Christmas with his side of the family.

A lot of things depend on the flight ticket availability and if I get days off work, but I try to fly home few days (maybe even a week) before Christmas so I can help with cleaning and preparations. I usually buy presents once I am in Slovakia unless I want to bring something that is not available in Slovakia. From abroad I usually bring sweets or snacks. 

Slovakia in December is cold, and very often covered in snow. The town where I come from is right at the foot of the High Tatras known for having the best Christmas decoration in the town square with a lot of starts and all of the trees have lights. As much as I love it I hate it too... I always think of how much electricity these lights need and how bad it is for our planet. Be sensible with your Christmas lights this year; so we can light them up for many more years. 

We go to the town square in the early evening for a cup or two of mulled wine. My hometown is very small so we usually meet other friends or family members. This is one of my favourite thing to do.  There are Christmas songs playing from various stands, people are wrapped in coats and heavy scarfs. The atmosphere is magical and you can feel the Christmas in the air.

The 24^th of December, Christmas Day, I spend with my mum. 

First of all, we have a coffee and a light breakfast. We look at the TV Program magazine which we buy only during the Christmas period; I get a marker and highlight all of the movies we want to watch during the three upcoming days. After we finish our coffee I help my mum with some cleaning or I go to the shop if she forgot to buy something. We usually do Christmas tree on the Christmas Day as well. I play Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone soundtrack and decorate the tree in the living room while my mum works on dinner in the kitchen. We live in a small flat so if the music is not too loud we can talk to each other. I have to hoover again after the tree is up because the plastic Christmas needles and glitter from the Christmas decorations are everywhere, then we put presents under the tree. If there is a movie on the TV we highlighted we both sit down and watch it together. We usually get a snack, a cup of tea, another coffee or we have a quick lunch during the movie. For lunch, we have traditional Slovakian Christmas soup “Kapustnica” (mentioned in the previous article, there is also a recipe link so go to check it out). I set up the table and arrange the small cakes, fruit, and snacks on the trays and bowls after lunch.

Christmas 2016

Christmas 2017

We have dinner between five and seven but if there is a Christmas movie we want to watch we move the dinner forwards of backward. We dress up after all housework is done just before dinner to make it feel fancier, special, like a celebration that it is. The candles are lit and everything is set up so let’s talk about food. We have two courses for Christmas dinner, but we start with the aperitif, usually red wine; when I was younger Christmas was the only day when I was allowed to drink cola so I had that while adults enjoyed wine. My mum usually says a few words about how lovely it is to be together, how thankful we are for what the year brought to us and something positive and wishful for the next year. The first course is chicken and vegetable soup. I love this soup so much and my mum can make it really well. The second course is one of my favourite meals of all time. The red cabbage, pork, and chicken baked in the oven with crispy onion and gravy and “knedlik” (soft white steamed pastry). The fact is that I don’t eat this meal during the year so I am looking forward to Christmas dinner so much! Food is always delicious and it is always too much. 

After dinner, we take our drinks to the living room and open the presents. We don't buy a lot of presents. We don't have any children to spend Christmas with us so we do not pretend that some imaginary character brought the presents. We buy one or two little presents for each other and we unwrap them together. We do try the presents out, for example, we try the clothes on or see if headphone work... etc. The rest of the evening we spend watching the TV and our favourite Christmas movies, and later in the evening, we have a second round of dinner. We have the same second course again just a smaller portion. That is how much we love this meal. Most of the evening is about spending time together. My mum and I have time to catch up and to talk about everything that happened during the year. We go to bed very late on this day.

Next morning the 25th we have breakfast and coffee together again and then I go to visit my dad's side of the family. We all meet at my grandma's house for some food and exchange presents and talk for hours. It is all very cosy and nice and I am looking forward to this holiday all year long. 

The family is the most important thing.