Sauerkraut Soup

Holidays at our house were steeped in tradition. Since our family were practicing Catholic's, some of our activities were centered at church. We marked time with Advent candles lit before mass, one for each week of Advent. It was a season of fasting and penitence to prepare us to be worthy to celebrate the birth of Jesus. I always found Sunday mass during Advent to be very non-eventful and wished we could sing more Christmas music. But that was reserved for Christmas day. 

At home, we turned into quiet, happy, helpful children. I guess we wanted to make up for a year of being hooligans in Santa's eyes. The Sears wishbook was passed from one child to another as we tried to decide what we really wanted for Christmas. We watched Christmas specials on TV and sang Christmas songs and carols. Everything was leading up to the magic of Christmas Eve. 

Every day the week before Christmas, Mom would check the mail for a special package sent by my Grandma and Great-Grandmother. Their parish church, like most in the mid-west, still distributed oplatki, a thin wafer about 4" by 6" that was embossed with either a chalice or a Nativity scene. The taste is similar to communion wafers. Oplatki were handed out after mass on the third Sunday of Advent. My aunts and uncles, along with my grandmothers, would pool their wafers to send them to us so we could take part in the traditions of our Slovak heritage.  

Christmas Eve day was like most days in December, except there was added attention to cleaning our rooms, wrapping small gifts and helping Mom however we could. The church had rules about when you could or couldn't eat meat during Advent, but other than Fridays (when we Never had meat), I don't remember fasting. But my parents kept Christmas Eve as a time of fasting with a sparse meal. 

When it got dark, we would sit down for a dinner menu specific only to Dec. 24. After grace, we'd eat our oplatki, somber with the knowledge that Joseph and Mary could not find room at the inn and remembering the sacrifice of our Midwest relatives in sharing their oplatki with us. Because the wafers were dry and tasteless, we'd drizzle honey on them before being eaten. Soon all nine kids were sticky and somewhat hyper from the sugar in the honey. 

Then came the second course - steaming sauerkraut soup with floating mushrooms. I'm not sure where my Mom got the idea to make this concoction every Christmas Eve or why. Maybe it was what she grew up with. The soup was a thin, clear broth made from sauerkraut juice with sliced mushrooms floating on top. It was certainly an acquired taste. I would try small sips and manage to drink some, but I never could eat the mushrooms. Even on our best behavior, I don't think anyone (except my parents) ever got much down. I don't know what, if anything, we had after the soup - probably something like grilled cheese sandwiches. 

After dinner, my Dad would be in charge so Mom could attend to last minute details, or just rest. I recall caroling one specific Christmas Eve, but I'm pretty sure we usually did that earlier in December. Many years, we'd all pile in the car and drive around looking at the beautiful lights on all the houses. There were neighborhoods, especially in California, that were famous for how the homes were decorated in lights. 

Before we knew it, it was time to hang our stockings. We used real socks and it was the one time we were grateful for the sock box. Socks were lined up so we could find the biggest one. We'd hang them on the fireplace in descending birth order so Santa would know whose stocking was whose.  

And to our surprise, we were each allowed to open one gift before going to bed. Every year the gift turned out to be new pajamas. It was a ritual that we loved because new, warm PJ's made the night more special. And my parents knew we'd be presentable for pictures the next morning. 

We'd push two or three beds together so all the kids could pile into one room to sleep. I know this started because my parents had bikes, trikes and dollhouses to assemble and gifts to wrap. They put us together so we'd police each other and they didn't run the risk of a child wandering into the preparations. 

As all kids know, Christmas Eve is the hardest night to fall asleep. It took a long time to get everyone settled and relaxed. We'd whisper in the dark until one by one, we started to nod off to sleep.

But having us together worked against my parents in the morning. If one of us woke up, be it 4:00 or 5:00 a.m, we'd all be awake. I know there were years that my parents had barely gotten to bed before nine children were jumping on and around their bed saying "Get up! It's Christmas! Get Up!!!"


Merry Christmas To All, And To All A Good Night!