OUR CHRISTMAS
Growing up in Lithuania under Russian rule, Christianity and Christmas were not acceptable. However, we kept the Christmas traditions of our Grandparents in our home, with our family. Christmas Eve (Kucios) is the most important, and most significant, part of our Christmas celebration. Christmas Eve is the final fasting day before Christmas. On that day we clean everything, including the Barn and the Animals. We set the table with hay underneath a linen tablecloth. For our meal we serve 12 dishes, representing the 12 Apostles of Christ. We use no animal fat, eggs or milk. Most important to the meal is the Kuciukai - a dough "bread" made with flour, water and a bit of poppy seed milk. There are wild cranberries in Lithuania, and we make a special drink with them for our meal. We put up a Christmas tree, share our meal, and remember especially those who have died or are not with us. The evening has a magical quality to it, in anticipation of great things to come, and we believe the animals talk to each other on this night, but we will have bad luck if we hear them!

Rimantas, Inga, Indre and Diana Puodziukynai (from left) came from Lithuania to make their home in Nantucket in September 2003. Their Christmas celebration, described below, relies heavily on their Lithuanian heritage, but also incorporates some American traditions.

On Christmas Day, we find Christmas gifts under the tree, and have a celebration dinner that includes a roast goose and wonderful, rich and spicy foods.

We continue these Lithuanian traditions on Nantucket, setting places at the table for those who are absent. We also include new traditions from our Nantucket life - putting up the Christmas tree after Thanksgiving, adding more house decorations, and hanging stockings on Christmas Eve for gifts from Santa Claus.