A Lithuanian Christmas Eve
We had a traditional Lithuanian Christmas Eve with our neighbors downstairs. In Lithuania, it is traditional on Christmas Eve to eat twelve dishes, none of which can contain meat or dairy products. That is difficult for a culture that lives by pork and sour cream. So we had a lot of fish, mushrooms, and beets. I don’t know why beets haven’t caught on as a Christmas dish in America. They are the perfect color for the season.
We also drank the traditional Christmas sludge.  I don’t know what this stuff is made off, but I do know potato starch is one of the main ingredients. Some berries are in there somewhere. Overall, this drink has the consistency of reindeer snot and a flavor that is somewhat disturbing.
But we had a great time with our neighbors, who are also our landlords. They are LCC graduates, and the wife works at LCC as the director of admissions. They have two children: Elsa (who is a month younger than Emma) and Titus (who is two). We had a great time after dinner watching home movies and having the kids recite Christmas poems to us in Lithuanian.
On December 25th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
Reindeer snot, huh? = ) I have traumatic childhood memories involving it when they’d give it to us along with our lunch as a drink in kindergarten, basically leaving you thirsty for the rest of the day. Feruza and I had the same traditional 12-dish-no-meat thing at the Brubakers’ last night. Did you know according to the tradition you have to have tried all of the dishes in order to live until the next Christmas? And then also have a fortune telling time with your family right before you move on to singing Christmas carols. = )