Lisa S., I'm responding to your post up here so you make sure to see it, and so that if others have any ideas, they can respond too.
It's sooooo neat that your mom remembers going through Ellis Island! Our original flight itinerary was to fly into NY, and I was really excited about the kids seeing the Statue of Liberty as their first sight of the US, but we wound up flying into Minneapolis. Kinda loses something landing in Minnesota!! (But, in hindsight, I'm so thankful we didn't have to go looking for a connecting flight with our scared-to-death little kids. We flew from Amsterdam straight to Mpls.)
Anyway! I was wondering in what ways your family preserved their Ukrainian traditions/culture once here in the States. Like what did you do at Christmas time, or on other special days? Were there any "gotta-have-it" foods on the table for holidays?
I absolutely love that kind of thing, and I want to go as "all-out" as I can while also celebrating things "the American way." I want them to have the best of both worlds, and my ultimate goal is that if they ever go back to Ukraine the common foods/traditions will be at least be somewhat familiar to them. I'm already planning on having the kids make pipe-cleaner spiders for the Christmas tree, and I'm looking up recipes for borscht and babka, but I'd love to hear how your Ukrainian/American family keeps their culture alive.
Sorry to ramble, but I had to ask... Thank you so much for the comments! You're always so supportive and encouraging!
Shelly
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Hi Shelly!
I'm so glad I checked in before I left for work. I will call my Mom and my Babchi and get some recipes for Borscht and Babka for you- although I can't promise on the results, I'm still too chicken to attempt either. Easter's main tradition is taking a basket of certain foods to church to be blessed. The family then eats these foods after Mass on Easter Sunday. Of course it's goodies like eggs (sorry, I know how you HATE them!) Babka, Kielbasi, horseradish, cheese, etc. Christmas is definitely ALL about the Borscht, pierogi, but NO MEAT on Christmas Eve. That's all for Christmas Day. We always combined American and Ukrainian traditions for the holidays. There were certain things we did for Christmas when I was a child that kind of got pushed aside. I'll need to talk to my Mom some more and will give you some good but simple things you can do with the kids. Of course for Easter the big thing is also those gorgeous decorated eggs called Pysanky. There's a great catalog for "Ukie" stuff- the website is www.yevshan.com- they are out of Canada. But before you order anything, I'll get you some info to get you started. Making pierogi with the kids would probably be a blast seeing how much fun it looked like with the cookies, your entire house will probably be covered in flour. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my much, much beloved culture with you and your beautiful children and for sharing your experiences every day!! I'll get back to you tomorrow! Have a good night! Lisa
How embarrassing, I just noticed that I called you Linda instead of Lisa. OOPS!
Anyway! I can't wait to hear what you dig up for me! THANK YOU! You're such a sweetie!
Shelly
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