How do you feel about Christmas?
It’s Christmas time! I have a secret love for this time of the year. Especially when I am living in the Northern Hemisphere and it is a White Christmas!
It is the essence of Christmas I adore – the simple pleasures of: being with people I really love, singing Christmas carols, drinking mulled wine, eating delicious food, watching the snow fall and feeling truly content.
The commercial aspect of Christmas is one I do not like – the apparent “need” for people to buy a lot of presents and seemingly, how much you love someone depends on how big, or expensive, the gift is that you give them.
For this year it would be nice if we could all “get back to basics”. I have spent many Christmases in Poland, and they have two beautiful traditions that I would like to incorporate into every one of my Christmases – whether I am in Poland or not.
The first is the setting of the table. It does not matter which Polish house you enter – the table setting will always be the same. If there are 10 guests for dinner, there will be 11 place settings. The Polish always set an extra setting, just in case a stranger may knock at their door and need a place to be on Christmas eve. This tradition is obviously deep seated in the strong religious beliefs of the Polish, however I love the simple message it portrays:
“YOU ARE WELCOME HERE”
please come in, be warm, and eat.
The second tradition, that all Polish people will follow happens before eating the meal. Each person – whether family, or new acquaintance, Polish speaker or not – goes to each other person that they will be sharing the meal with and gives them wishes for the up and coming year. These positive messages are delivered in a close and personal manner, with everyone coming away smiling, laughing and some even crying with happiness.
These two very important traditions in every Polish house “make” my Christmas when I spend it there. Forget the presents, forget the elaborate meals and other festive paraphernalia – these gestures of love and kindness are what Christmas should be about.
So…
Who will you be sharing Christmas with this year? How will you be sharing your Christmas? Do you like the “superficial” Christmas of today, or the “traditional” Christmas of years gone by? How do you celebrate Christmas?
The last thing I would like to share, with you, is my favourite Christmas song. Please, if you have one, share it here too – collecting new Christmas songs is a hobby of mine (but don’t tell anyone, I think it is a strange hobby!!).
MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND A WONDERFUL 2010 TO YOU ALL
December 21st, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Thank you for the inspiring Christmas post. I really enjoy the two Polish traditions you mentioned. You can bet that there will be an extra place at our table this Christmas.
December 21st, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Hey,
I’m flying to Poland tomorrow and will spend Christmas with my faimly as usual
The extra plate is for a stranger so why don’t you stop by?
I’m really curious about your experiences in Poland btw!
Merry Christmas!
Anita
December 21st, 2009 at 5:07 pm
What amazingly positive comments – thank you both Daniel and Anita!
@Daniel – that sounds wonderful. I am so glad you liked these little gestures, that I feel mean so much. A very Merry Merry Christmas to you. Are you spending it Japan, or do you head back to Australia at this time?
@Anita – Thank you so much for the invitation, sadly I couldn’t get a flight until the 26th December, this year…so that will see me in the South of Poland near (2hours from) Wroclaw. I read from your post, on Ken Wilson’s blog, that you are from the North of Poland? (And a teacher I used to work with in Brodnica was a Kwiatkowska before she married!!).
Wesolych Swiat (sorry no Polish letters here! I hope you understand!) i sczezlewego nowego roku (and this time I will just apologise for my awful spelling!). Look forward to tweeting with you in the future and sharing experiences (Poland is one of my favourite places in the world!).
Again thank you both for your comments
Shonah
March 14th, 2010 at 9:47 am
This is certainly awesome to now lastly get a web site where the blogger actually understands what he’s sharing.
March 14th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Hello Salvador,
Thank you very much for your comment. I am glad you appreciated the Christmas post. I did not write for some time, however readers like you encourage me to continue – thank you!
Shonah
June 6th, 2011 at 10:23 am
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