Our Traditional Christmas Eve Dinner

Every year on Christmas Eve my wife cooks the 13 course traditional Russian Christmas Eve dinner. It starts with Platki, (or Oplatek, A Christmas wafer) which according to Wikipedia, began millenniums ago in Poland, Slovakia, and Lithuania. It's a Christmas Eve ritual that continues wherever the Blessed Oplatki, your Christmas wafer, is shared. After that, we do a shot of vodka. Then we eat a clove of garlic, followed by homemade bread. Then we have Podpinki, which is sauteed mushrooms, and probably my favorite of all the courses. From there, we go onto the lima beans {yuck} Then we pass around the Kapusta, which is sauerkraut soup. That gets followed up by Babalki, which is pierogi dough in butter and onions. I know, you're thinking, 'screw that where are the pierogies'? Don't worry, they're coming. The next dish is mashed potatoes with a crap ton of butter and onions. Then comes the pierogies which my wife makes homemade. {Mmmmmmmm}. Then we have white fish breaded and fried with lemon. Then finally the dessert is brought out to round off the meal That is apricots and prunes, and homemade cookies. My wife made 9 different kinds of cookies this year including kolachki, zazvorniki, and 7 others.

You do not get a plate with this meal. As the corses are passed around in front of you, you use your spoon or your fork to get as much as you want, and you pass the dish to the next person on your right.