This Christmas was particularly special to me. As the eldest of six children, you can imagine how difficult it is to get everyone together at one time! This year was the first year in about eight years that we were all home, living in our native California. My sister also married a Macedonian man, my brother was in the Marines (thank you for your service, Stu!), I lived abroad for a few years, etc. It was heart-warming to see everyone together, and while Christmas is most definitely not about the gifts, it touched my heart to see that the spirit of giving among my family members and significant others. I love my crazy, beautiful, big family!
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| My Grandma's traditional recipe, "Buche de Noel" that celebrates our French heritage! She even dips glossy citrus leaves in dark chocolate and peels them off to create the most beautifully realistic chocolate decorations - and some years she makes hand made meringue mushrooms dusted with cocoa powder. |
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| Bulgaria; 1991-ish - the sibs and I carrying our Christmas branch (we couldn't source a proper tree because Bulgaria as Christmas trees are more of a Western European tradition and in those days Bulgaria had just come out of Communism, so celebrating Christian holidays was relatively new). My parents used to smuggle Bibles through Eastern Europe because they were illegal - we moved to Bulgaria to plant an evangelical church. More on that adventure another time! |
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| Christmas proper! I love dressing in festive ways - wearing a vintage 1950's knit sweater in pine green and a 1950's cherry and cream wiggle skirt with matching belt. |
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| Also tried out a new recipe for our weekend brunch - Oeufs de Cocotte aux Girolles. I love eggs with a soft, oozing yolk and this recipe was so luxurious! |
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| "Oeufs Cocotte aux Girolles" with toasted peasant bread |
Being married to a Macedonian, we also celebrated Orthodox Christmas or "Bozik" on the 7th of January - on Christmas Eve, called "Badnik" in Macedonia, I quickly whipped up the traditional bread with a coin in it - the tradition is to break the bread and divide it into God, Home, and for each member of the family. The coin was found in God's piece of bread this year, which, I believe is fitting!
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season filled with much love, joy, and kindness!
Comrade Von Pussycat
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