Healthing It

Happy 2012! I don’t usually make specific resolutions every year but I have one for 2012 -  to revive the blog and blog at least a couple times a week. I miss it!

And I’ll start right now

While many people have put away their Christmas decorations by the time New Year’s Eve rolls around, for Eastern European families it’s just the beginning. We bought our tree on December 26th and put out our decorations after American Christmas.

But why?

Long story short, during the Soviet regime, religion was outlawed. But to keep the customs alive, people decorated New Year’s trees instead of Christmas trees and opened gifts on New Year’s Day. Because saints were outlawed, Santa, a.k.a., St. Nicholas was also replaced with Grandpa Frost, the “spirit of winter” who brings gifts on New Year’s.

He looks like the American version of Santa, just skinnier:

This is always confusing to explain, since we also celebrate Christmas in January, except there are no gifts or trees, just a traditional dinner. This post is about Ukrainian New Year’s, celebrated with American-Christmas traditions

We hosted a family New Year’s at our house, which is always a festive affair.

I was responsible for a seasonal dessert and I made the executive decision to make gingersnaps, using a recipe courtesy of smitten kitchen. As expected, they came out wonderfully.

There were many dishes to get through before the dessert though. Here are some of the foods.

There was herring fillet in a fur coat. (I shared the recipe for this uber Ukrainian dish here many moons ago).

A simple salad:

A platter of sushi:

Red potatoes with butter and dill:

Lamb shish kebabs:

And a fruit tart for dessert:

And then of course, came the opening of the presents. So fun to watch kids tear through gift wrapping paper:

The highlights of my gifts were a JETS jersey and a beautiful cashmere scarf.

We had a great time. Now only to summon enough energy to make tomorrow’s lunch. Back to work…but at least it’s a 4-day-week.