Wigilia

Only in the past two years have I started to observe the liturgical calendar devotionally. What a difference it has made in my spiritual life! It sets my life to a sacred rhythm.

One holiday that I previously overlooked, but has become my absolute favorite day of the year is Christmas Eve.

In the Midas house, we celebrate Wigilia (vigil) which almost usurps the glory of Christmas day.

My paternal grandfather is (allegedly, most likely) Polish and my paternal grandmother is Czech/Slovakian (her family’s story is def a post for another time!). So, we mix together Catholic practice from Eastern Europe and make a day of it!

The day starts with getting ready, we wear our best clothes and really do dress up (today, I will wear a purple dress, tights, and my gold bangle from Abu Dhabi). It’s an important part of the day that adds to the special feeling. This day truly is set apart for awaiting the arrival of Jesus and we want to look sharp when he comes!

Smells permeate the house. My grandmother and aunt (usually) spend the better part of the day cooking our dinner.

Around nightfall, we set out the change in the sink (I don’t know if this is even Polish0 we fill a bowl with pocket change and sudsy water and everyone washes their hands. The last person to wash their hands gets to keep the change. As you can imagine, the younger kids fight for this lucrative position J.

As night falls, the youngest child searches for the first star. When he or she sees it they rush in proclaiming it aloud. Now, we can officially start the dinner!

We sit around my grandparent’s old dark wood table. Attendance fluctuates from year to year with the only people being there EVERY year for the past 23 years are me and my grandparents.

We set an extra place at the table because, as the Polish proverb goes, “A guest in the home is God in the home.” (gość w dom, Bóg w dom)

There is a bit of hay on the table to symbolize Christ’s impoverished birth in a stable.

 We listen to an ancient cassette tape (I know, how archaic!) of my great-grandfather (affectionately known by his grandchildren as DeeDee Balajek) wish us bless us in Slovakian and wish us Merry Christmas in a thickly accented English. It is so special!

The children light the Advent wreath with its pink and purple candles.

We all participate in reading the poem “One Solitary Life” by James Allan Francis (included at the bottom, I encourage you to read this sermon excerpt!)

My grandfather explains the honey and oplatek (wafers). We dip them in honey and feed a bite to someone asking their forgiveness for all the ways we sinned against them in the past year and blessing them for the new year.

Then, the food starts!

There are an odd number of dishes—typically 7, 9, or 11.

The main dish is a hearty mushroom soup over mashed potatoes, there is some type of fruit, cheese bread (delicious) and other things. But most importantly to all the boys… the perogie!

I never really eat the food because it upsets my stomach… except for the cheese bread, I eat lots of that. We usually stop at a mcdonalds on the way back to Atlanta.

After dinner, we have dessert, but the kids are all waiting for what comes next… presents!

Every person gets to open just ONE gift on Christmas Eve. It’s usually really small, but it’s all fun!

Then, my personal favorite and classic memory among the Midas family treasures: carols! My grandfather is a great piano player so we rattle out some Christmas tunes. Somehow, “How much is that doggie in the window?” and “You are my sunshine” always make their way in, too ;).

After some more talking, laughter, alcohol consumption, kids playing with their new toys, etc., it’s time to leave and head back to the city to spend Christmas morning with my other grandma. We make our way out and everyone says they love each other. One of the most beautiful and sad memories I have from every year is all the Midases standing like silhouettes against the porch light, waving and doing big, dramatic kisses. Family, God’s greatest gift to us.

The traditions are fun and seeing my family is wonderful, but there’s another reason that Christmas Eve is so special.

It’s a day to contemplate the Advent of Christ, to hope and wait for his arrival, the first time, symbolically, and the second time, actually. We want to be ready for when he comes, and this day is a great day to posture our hearts for his coming appearance to the world.

Luke 12:35-40(NASB)

Christ says, “’Be dressed in readiness and keep your lamps lit. Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. Whether he comes in the second watch, or even the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken in to. You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.’”

"Here is a man who was born in an obscure village as the child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in another obscure village.
He worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty and then for three years was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book.
He never held an office.
He never owned a home.
He never had a family.
He never went to college.
He never put his foot inside a big city.
He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born.
He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness.
He had no credentials but himself.
He had nothing to do with this world except the naked power of his divine manhood.
While still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him.
His friends ran away.
One of them denied him.
Another betrayed him.
He was turned over to his enemies.
He went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed upon the cross between two thieves.
His executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth while he was
dying, and that was his coat.
When he was dead, he was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today he is the center of the human race and the leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon the earth as powerfully as has this one solitary life."