This year our Ukrainian Christmas was a little untraditional. I had been fighting a weird allergic reaction to something or who knows what for weeks at that point and after a steroid shot on Christmas Eve, a round of steroids, lots of antihistamine and multiple days trying to figure out what was causing it, cooking a big feast was the last thing on my mind. So we did a little adjustment, making some easier meals and inviting a pretty small family as last minute company.
Vareniki still happened. All the kids helped me make them this time and I can tell they are getting better! I think Mark's face is covered in flour though. Oh, and we forgot to hide an almond or an uncooked bean inside one of them for luck...
Robert was in charge of Oliv'ye, the potato salad.
Alex helped me a lot as well with chopping, peeling and cleaning.
The best part is no one really protests to dressing up any longer! Alex seems to actually enjoy it now that he has grown into Robert's sharovari (those traditional puffy pants:)).
We usually have plenty of Ukrainian clothing to let people wear for dinner too, which makes it even more fun.
And here is the final picture. Some items are not shown, but we did have 12 dishes:)
Here is the whole Ukrainian Christmas group (with my face all swollen and bare as I had to keep everything off my face). Please don't ask me why Mark is wearing that headpiece.
I am still very happy we did manage to pull it off although it wasn't not ideal in timing. It was mostly the kids who kept saying that they still wanted to have a celebration, so I am glad they enjoy this tradition (mostly vareniki:)).
Lyana.
