Home for the Holidays

Hey folks,

Currently watching my Jets take on the Bengals and I figured I'd update you on what I've been doing since I've been on break.

Ever since I got home it was hit the ground running in preparation for Christmas. My first night back was spent baking with my Mom. We have Christmas Eve over our house every year, which we've been doing ever since my Mom was a kid. Our whole family comes over for a traditional Slovak meal. Part of the preparation involves an awful lot of baking. That night, we made a sweet bread filled with either poppyseed, nuts, or prunes called Kolach (cole-lah-chi).

Since my Mom is usually doing other things, the past two years I've taken to making it by myself. It's sometimes hard to read my Grandma's old cursive writing but they came out great this year!

The next day my family and I took a trip up to Boston. The last few years we've gotten tickets to see the Boston Pops Holiday Show and this year we decided to make a day of it! We started our day at Fanueil Hall and had some coffee at Cheers. It was really cold!

We then grabbed a ride to Symphony Hall. We had great seats and really enjoyed the show. We were pretty hungry afterwards and went to Ruth Chris Steakhouse for a great dinner. I'm a big steak guy , so it was heaven.

Sure enough, it was soon Christmas Eve, which always guarantees to be a busy day. My Dad and I woke up early, to do some last-minute shopping and grab a slice of pizza. This has long been a tradition in our family: it gives my Dad and I a chance to finish shopping and it gives my Mom a chance to get her work done without us getting in her way!

We finished up our shopping and got home in time to get ready for our family, which arrived around 3pm. Christmas Eve is a really big holiday in our family, this year was no different with 14 people coming over. We started off with some appetizers, but soon came our traditional Slovak supper.

We start the meal with oplatki-a type of thin wafer which we dip in honey. This was used instead of communion in the old country, when people were snowed in and couldn't make it to church. Next is bobalki-balls of sweet dough served in warm milk. This symbolizes all the good throughout the last year. After bobalki is kapustnica, which is a bitter soup made with sauerkraut and noodles that symbolizes the difficulties of the year. Next are pierogies filled with either potatoes or prune, a family favorite. Our last course is shrimp with rice. The idea is a very simple meal-one that has been in our family for generations.

After dinner, we all mingled and opened presents. We had alot of my cousins around and it was pretty rowdy! We were all laughing and having a great time! It was also a chance for me to see my cousin Ed and fiancee Ashley and thank them again for their hospitality while in DC! My cousin Jessica came again this year and I got the chance to see her again. While for Chris--my cousin Elise's boyfriend--it was his first chance to get a taste of our family's Christmas celebration.

We were all pretty tired and we went to bed early. But dawn broke and--in what would have been unthinkable ten years ago--my parents woke me up! I made my way up the stairs and opened my gifts! I got some great stuff this year: from some great political books, Yankees gear, and a car adapter for my iPhone!

After a nice breakfast, we piled into the car and drove to Hingham, Mass. to my cousin Steph's house. It was nice to see some other family that couldn't make it to our house Christmas Eve. I also had the chance to see my cousins Jackson and Chase. We had a great meal and opened up some more presents. The weather was a little iffy and we headed back home early. As we pulled in the driveway, I could not believe that Christmas was over! But at least I still had some time at home to enjoy before heading back to the Hill

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