So now the Watson family has celebrated Ukrainian Christmas on three different continents! Dining rooms change, guests change, but one thing remains the same—we have a feast of Ukrainian food every year on January 6th.
This year we decided to invite people whom we did not really know well, but who had some sort of connection to Ukraine. The Stiles and the Turners were the families. The mom in one family was half Ukrainian—her dad’s family immigrated to Canada a while ago, but she still remembered some of the popular Ukrainian food that her grandma made. In the other family, Mrs. Turner’s grandmother was born in Ukraine and she immigrated to the US with her family in the early 1900. One thing that both families experienced is the fact that once they left Ukraine and were trying to adjust to their new life, they were also discouraged from being different and keep speaking their language—the main goal was to fit in, unfortunately. Many traditions are lost and language was not passed along as good as it could have been. I can attest to the fact that it is a very difficult task.
Well, back to our celebration. We had some really tasty food this year—vareniki, oliv’ya, holubtsi, borsch, kanapki, napoleon tart and apple cake for dessert, and even kampot.
One of my favorites, no matter when is this salad “Oliv’ye”. This year, Robert made it all by himself.
Vareniki. I was taught by my grandma growing up how to make all varieties of these. My favorite are still with cherries inside (so they are sweet), but these are so good with potatoes and mushrooms.
This is our grown-ups only table, with one teenager in the mix. We now have a conservatory connected to the dining room so the kids’ tables and most of the toys stay there.
And here is our annual Ukrainian picture. Mark wanted to wear the Ukrainian shirt only long enough to take a few pictures. But Alex wanted to wear his outfit as soon as he woke up.
Next year, we might need to jazz up our Ukrainian Christmas a bit—like maybe go skiing somewhere instead, hmmm…have a Ukrainian Christmas in Germany or something..that would be strange.
Cheers.
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