It's Christmas time...

Christmas at the Burdick home (the young Burdicks that is) means sleeping an hour later than normal. Oh, how I relish ... but I am being very practical.

Seriously though, Christmas has always had a mystique about it for me. I just love this holiday. This year we will be going to Oakville once again. So, it will go something like this.

Christmas Eve

11:43 a.m.
Board train for the ville, after an hour on the subway and bus. Alex's carriage filled to capacity and us carrying his gear (which seems to be the most bulky) and pressies, pressies.

12:30 p.m.
Arrive Oakville and stuff everything and everyone into my dad's car for the 15 minute ride from the station.

12:45
Arrive at parents' home to find mom in the kitchen with a wild look on her face, trying to prepare the Christmas Eve feast (no other way of describing it). There are 12 courses in the traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner. We have cheated along the years by calling each piece of dessert a 'course' because seriously, who can eat 12 courses! We throw ourselves into helping. Alex romps on the carpet in the living room, tearing any and all papers that come into his hands.

4:40
We can't sit down to the table until the first star appears in the sky. So, much time is spent on looking for said star. Luckily, Venus usually shows up pretty early.
We have a special Christmas wafer (note to self, go and buy wafer) that we share before dinner. Each person breaks off a piece and then goes around to everyone else with their wishes. Then you break off a piece of their wafer and they break a piece of yours. That ensures that the good wishes come true.
We then sit down to dinner, which is vegetable salad, hot sauercraut, cod or some other such fish, herring, mushroom soup. While we have an apple compote, we open the presents. Then there are cakes - cheesecake, poppyseed loaf, babka, and of course, chocolate. There is wine with dinner and then brandy or whisky after.

7:00
Happy laziness after a filling dinner, the trying on of gifts, playing any new CDs or DVDs, leafing through books.

10:00
Bedtime.

Christmas Day

8:00 a.m.
Christmas breakfast, with ham, veggie salad, eggs and all kinds of goodies.

3:00 p.m.
TURKEY!!!

Now, all this said, things might be completely different this year because of Alex.