As Christmas comes closer and closer, the burden of carrying out family traditions looms in the very near future.  If you were a descendant of the Burnett family, this is what you would be doing now in preparation for the big day.

 

First, by this time if you are exchanging gifts, you would have them purchased, wrapped, and hidden from the young ones. Your next duty would be to go to the grocery store and purchase all the products you will need to prepare your holiday meal.

 

On the meal front, the first item we want to concentrate on is the Christmas Eve meal.  We often refer to this as the Feast of the Seven Fishes.  Since our religion plays a big part in observance of these holidays, Christmas Eve is a Holy Day of Observance and as such we would not eat meat. 

 

Most families observe the custom of eating seven fish dishes, which might mean cod, pollock, sardines, calamari, oysters, crab cakes, and tilapia.  These dishes can be baked as casseroles, fixed with tomato sauce and noodles, or breaded and fried.  Each family has their own special recipes and prepares the dish to suit their family.

 

In our family, Christmas Eve started with the preparation of dough for fried frittis.  The grandchildren, especially, would travel to grandmas to enjoy a hot fritti, some sprinkled with sugar, and this would start their Christmas tradition.

 

Another tradition would be the preparation of lupini beans.  This is a yellow, lima bean, which would be soaked for several weeks and when they had softened placed in clean salt water and consumed, which the story is they would have no taste and would not fill you up as they were the bush that Baby Jesus was hid under when He was being searched for.  There is a special way to eat them as you push them out of the shell, which you discard and eat the inside.

 

Once everyone gathers at grandmas to consume the Christmas Eve dinner, we all gather before getting ready to attend Midnight Mass.

 

On Christmas morning, we all gather at our own houses, exchange our gifts, and have a leisurely Christmas meal.  Usually, our meal contains the basic ham, maybe lasagna, and traditional side dishes. One of our traditional deserts will be pita piata, which we have gathered as a family to prepare earlier.

 

Part of the happiness of the holiday is to observe these customs, which have been handed down from generation to generation. I hope you will take the time to include some tradition in your holiday. If you do not know any then start some now for your family.

 

Take care, stay calm, and enjoy the holidays with your family and until next week “Now You Have Heard It Through The Grapevine.”