Merry Christmas! I am writing this as my parents rustle around getting ready to go for a long Christmas afternoon walk. Unseasonably warm weather continues in Chicago, which I choose to see as a blessing, so we can walk and walk and walk.
Merry Christmas! We tried something new this year, my parents were at the local funky grocery store a few weeks ago and saw a sign about ordering “Christmas Bread”, so they thought, “why not?” And then they went to confirm the order and were asked “do you want money in it?” To which of course they said “yes!” And then went home and started researching why bread with have money in it. This is the bread:
It is called “Cesnica” and if you do the whole ritual correctly, it is supposed to guarantee wealth, predict the future, and ensure a good harvest. Which is a lot of pressure on the bread eaters! We tried our best, we turned it counter clockwise three times, broke off three pieces for a stranger, those not with us, and our first Christmas visitor, then broke off pieces for ourselves being careful to let not one crumb fall on the table. And then I got obsessed with finding the coin hidden somewhere in the bread and thereby ensuring I would be very wealthy in the next year (I just got an alert that my DCIB bank account is over drawn again, stupid Dabangg 3 tickets hitting at the same time as my annual WordPress charge). This lead to me at a certain point just ripping the bread to shreds like I was Albie Dog disemboweling a toy.
Anyway, the Christmas Bread was the highlight of the day, but my presents weren’t bad either. I got a new percolator, a fancy new laptop bag (that I bought and picked out myself, but my parents wrapped it), and a pretty ring.
Oh, and this amazing thermos from my sister.
Anyway, that was my Christmas! Feel free to chip in with your stories as you hit the sleepy nappy quiet time portion of the day and sneak online to check in with your DCIB peeps.
dontcallitbollywood 
What a fabulous flask! Every mouthful you drink will be blessed. 🙂
And I love that bread too.
My day was pretty low key. Church in the morning (the only time I go every year), lunch at home for just the nuclear family, then drinks with the neighbours. It’s quite hot but we still have a turkey, which takes hours in the oven. My background is European, my husband’s is country Australian but I suppose everything gets mooshed together into our own family traditions. We kept things pretty subdued as we are mourning our very old dog who passed away earlier in the week. We all felt her absence very strongly.
Of course the main feature of the day is food!
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This sounds nice! We didn’t even have that much, three of us opening presents, then a walk around the neighborhood, then a one pot stir fry dinner and now it is 7pm and Christmas is over for me, I’m back to figuring out what I need to do before work tomorrow.
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