mccALL Around the World: A Very Lithuanian Christmas

After an amazing ten days at home for an early Christmas with my family, I headed back to Poland to spend my first Christmas with D. When we got home from the airport, he surprised me with a huge Christmas tree in our living room. Anyone who remembers my experience last year trying to find a Christmas tree over 2 feet tall in Lithuania knows how frustrated I was. Growing up, my family was known for having the biggest tree with an obnoxious amount of lights and I had been so accustomed to this that it was painful for me last year to claim the bush-shaped-two-footer as my own. Somehow D was able to find a nice 8' tree for us and managed to get it up four flights of stairs into our apartment. It was really sweet and his lighting job was pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen (see below).

He had to cut a good foot off the top of her to get her to fit :)

D ended up getting a few days off so we were excited to be able to go to his parents house in Lithuania for the Holidays. Between travel times to the airport from our house and theirs, it's actually quicker to drive so we got in the car for a long 8 hour trip. Our Google Maps lead us to take a rather unconventional route and I would estimate that I felt either: a) scared for my life, b) like we were driving on a road made of the spikey things used to enter rental car lots or c) that we were very, very lost for 7 hours and 45 minutes of the journey. Some of the small towns we stopped in even had me questioning whether or not I went back in time 100 or so years and didn't know it.

Anyways, somehow we made it to D's parents house in one piece and we began prepping for the Christmas celebrations. My sister-in-law arrived the following day and informed us she had invited her French friend to spend Christmas with us as well since he was in Lithuania alone for the holidays. I couldn't have been more excited to have another English speaker in the house and someone who was even more oblivious to Lithuanian Christmas traditions than I.

If you are unfamiliar with Lithuanians, it is imperative you know how much they cherish their traditions. This is one of the things that I love most about Lithuanian culture. Our Wedding Rehearsal Dinner was full of these traditions which my friends and family all loved being a part of. Christmas is no exception and I was in for a big treat. D's mom, sister and I spent all day Christmas Eve preparing dinner. Lithuanians do not eat meat or dairy on Christmas Eve, an old Catholic tradition I think the majority of other countries don't follow any more. On Christmas Eve you must try 12 different dishes , most made of herring or other fish. The 12 dishes represent the 12 Apostles and it's considered bad luck to not try a little of each. Before setting the table, D's sister spread hay around the edges symbolizing the hay from Jesus' manger. She then covered the hay with a table cloth and at the end of the meal, everyone was instructed to reach underneath and grab a piece of hay. The size of your hay represents how long/short/stable/fragile your life will be. Lucky for me, I had the longest piece at the table :)

The hay being placed under the table cloth

Some of the 12 dishes

Before the meal, D's grandfather blessed our dinner and cracked a large piece of communion bread at the head of the table. Each person had to crack their own piece off then pass their piece on to their neighbor. You had to eat a piece off of everyone's wafer at the table. I thought this was interesting and I recalled the last time I did this sort of thing out of Church was when my brother played Priest and we practiced for my First Communion with sandwich bread at home. My mind then wondered to "where does one purchase communion bread" and my thought train was cut short when we began sharing wishes for one another around the table. FYI- if you ever find yourself going attending a Lithuanian meal, know for sure you will be required to make some sort of a speech. Luckily, D always has to translate mine so if it's bad they ill probably just think something got lost in translation..

On the table sat a pitcher of a pink-colored drink which I was hoping would either taste like Kool-Aid or Sangria. I took a big gulp of it only to realize I was drinking a thinner type of jello. Had I have been prepared for the drink's consistency, I don't think I would've been so taken back but lets just say I would've preferred Sangria...Speaking of Sangria, I was happy to notice the absence of shot glasses and vodka bottles on the table for Christmas Eve. Apparently wine is all that is drank on this day and I was pretty grateful I wouldn't be speaking the universal language of vodka with D's grandparents that evening.

After dinner we played some interesting games, each of which told you something about your future and your luck for the coming year. Christmas Eve in Lithuania is a holiday full of magic and kids are taught that animals can speak on this day (in my mind animals speak every day so I was pretty down with this tradition). The night is also filled with all sorts of superstitions like you cannot sit at the corner of the table or you will be single for 7 years, and single people should hug a fence and the amount of fence posts they touch will determine if they will stay single that year (even= you'll meet someone, odd= shit outta luck).

When our games were over, we headed to the local church for Mass. Now I know how crowded American churches are on Christmas but believe me when I say I have never in my life seen anything like this. We arrived early enough to get a seat and within minutes the entire Church was packed. People were standing down on the sides, down the aisle and even outside of the Church. The woman next to me was practically sitting on my lap and I thought for sure I was going to have a claustrophobic fit in the middle of Christmas Mass. I couldn't even make eye contact with D without completely losing it. D's best friend Lukas was in the back of the church and we told him to take a picture for me to show you all of how crowded it was. Not only did he forget to turn the flash and sound off while taking pictures during the opening hymnals, the pictures didn't even really come out. The peaceful mass was followed by a mass exit of everyone out of the Church. The way people were plowing each other down a few minutes after praising God reminded me of Americans on Black Friday, acting like lunatics one day after giving thanks for everything they have. The Church was beautiful and it was a neat experience, but for fear of me passing out from anxiety, I think I'll try to live stream the service next year.

After Mass

On Christmas Day we woke up and exchanged gifts. I got some really special things including a hand-knitted scarf made by mother-in-law. We then got back in the kitchen to prep an early dinner for the night. D's mom roasted two ducks and we had an amazing meal with his whole family. By the grace of God I was somehow spared a shot glass at the table and couldn't have been happier to see that the Frenchman was D's grandfather's shot partner of choice for the evening. After dinner, D's mom played Christmas songs on the Piano while his grandparents sang and danced. It was so precious and I couldn't help feeling like I was in an actual Lithuanian Hallmark Holiday Film.

The girls in the kitchen

The go-to potato peeler

Grandparents on Christmas

With my Lithuanian Teacher, Rentata

Deividas spent several Christmas away from his family so I felt really grateful that we could all be together for this one. Although I definitely felt a noticeable absence being away from my own family, I was happy we were able to celebrate a week earlier. I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and that 2014 is full of happiness, good health and prosperity <3