c-e-l-e-b-r-a-t-i-o-n!!!!

Last night we had 26 people over. Yep 26. I cooked a large meal for all of them. Ukrainian Christmas. It was wonderful. The silly thing is I didn't take ONE picture. With doing the dinner and having a small baby.... didn't have time. I didn't even feel like I got to mingle. That's okay. Don't sweat it. But the point of the holiday is to share. To give to our friends. An important part of the tradition of holding Ukrainian Christmas, both for my Grandparents and parents, was that the meal was a gift of gratitude. The time spent preparing was an expression of gratitude to all their friends. It was their way of saying thank you for your friendship. That is a huge part of the tradition for my husband and me. And I love doing it. I love that it is something cool in my family. Something that my mother, my grandmother and my great grandmother did. How cool! I didn't take any pictures, but I did get a small 8x8 scrapbook album done explaining the traditions and the point. It has some of the traditional recipe's that my great grandmother taught my grandma, and so forth down til me. It has very few photos - just some really old ones. And it is extremely simple. Perfect. It's about the message that is in it. A way for people who attend and my children to know of the way all this started. Now THAT is why I scrapbook.
As for the menu, it consisted of
12 main dishes:
1. mashed potatos
2. dressing
3. cranberries
4. fruit salad
5. kneddily
6. cabbage rolls
7. wheat
8. perogis
9. boscht
10. corn
11. buns
12. gravy

7 Meats:
1. Turkey
2. Ham
3. Kubasaw
4. Shrimp
5. Meatballs
6. Roast Beef
7. Chicken Wings

7 Desserts:
1. Rocky Road Brownies
2. Chocolate Pie
3. Christine's Apple Cheesecake Torte
4. Steed Family Chocolates
5. Lemon Loaf
6. Diane's Pumpkin Roll
7. Babka

And yes.... we have left overs. :)