Christmas

Christmas is a very important holiday, especially if you’re Catholic. For Christians it is the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth. For Christmas, my family and I always go to Christmas Eve mass. We normally go with my mom’s side of the family at St. Stanislaus in Wyandotte at 4:30 pm. After mass we go to my grandma’s house. We wait for everyone to get home from work. When everyone is there, my uncle Dave says prayers. Then, the four brothers and my mom get the Optlak to pass around. The Optlak is a blessed wafer symbolizing strong family ties. After, we eat. My grandma makes the main dishes, the pierogies, kielbasa, and the mashed potatoes. Everyone brings either a dessert or appetizer. When we are done eating we do White Elephant. White Elephant is a game we play with gag gifts. This year I got a leopard Snuggie! Next, the godparents give gifts to their godchildren. We all hang around grandmas until about 10:30 pm or so. The next morning we are allowed to wake up at any time and open our stockings, but nothing else. We have to wait for everyone to get up before we can start opening because my mom likes to take pictures of us when we look our best. Then, we sit around and have some quality family time. Next, at around 3:00 pm my dad’s side of the family comes over and we eat and my grandma gives everyone twenty dollars! My worst memory about Christmas was from when I was in the fourth grade. My teacher, Sr. Josella, told my whole class Santa Clause didn’t exist right before Christmas break. I went home that day devastated.