Like it or not... Christmas IS Coming!

I grew up in Poland; the traditional Christmas Season started on December 24th.  Before that we calmly and quietly were getting ready for the birth of Christ by actively participating in spiritual activities of Advent.  

No Christmas stuff before December 24! No Christmas Carols, no Christmas tree, maybe a bit of Christmas shopping, but certainly not in November...   

On Christmas Eve we would forgo meat of any kind, cooked an enormous feast of fish, Pierogi(s) and sauerkraut - to be eaten before we headed out to the Midnight Mass.  The presents were opened right after supper and there was always so much fun with that; the tree was trimmed only earlier that day and my Dad was in charge of that.  Wonderful memories.  

After moving to Canada, we still continued our Polish traditions, because they were so dear to our hearts. 

We tweaked them a bit and now our Christmas tree is beautifully dressed two weeks before Christmas.  

It stays up until at least January 6th (my Grandmother used to keep her's up till February 2nd!)  My Dad still dresses his on Christmas Eve while my Mom prepares the Wigilia - traditional Christmas Eve meal.

And the gifts under the tree... remember those are always opened on Christmas Eve!  Great, isn't it?

Tree, sparkly and nice... did I tell you already that I love sparkles?  oh... where did the tree skirt go?  

And here you will see my Mom's beautiful handcrafted Crochet Stars: 

I hope you like them.  

The Crochet Stars come in sets of 6 and can be shipped worldwide!  You can get order yours here.