Merry Christmas! Веселих Свят!

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which never got around to switching over to that newfangled Gregorian calendar, is celebrating Christmas today. Last night, after Christmas Eve service, my family and I had Sviat Vechir (Holy Night) at my mother's house, with the traditional twelve course Lenten meal. Here they are, posing, not entirely voluntarily, during a commercial break:

Today we go to church (again),and get together with family (again). No gifts (those are given on Saint Nicholas Day, December 19th) or commercial exploitation, just a nice old fashioned holiday. Perhaps some caroling, and getting to see old friends. Religious. Traditional. Like the one those whiners at Faux news go on and on about, but don't seem to practice.

Anyway, I found this old photo of my very first Christmas; here I am posing with my Tato:

For more about Ukrianian Christmas traditions, look here.