Christmas in Poland starts on Christmas Eve. This is the day when most families decorate their Christmas tree.

The most important part of the day is the evening, when people share a Christmas wafer and wish everybody all the best for the future.

Then we eat Christmas Eve supper. The table has a white tablecloth with some hay under it. The hay reminds us of Jesus and where He was born. There is always an extra plate in case someone comes unexpectedly. On that particular night everybody is welcome into our house.

There are usually twelve different dishes. There is no meat, but there are a lot of fish, usually herring and fried carp. There is also sauerkraut 

(a cabbage dish), Chistmas borsch (beetroot soup) and traditional dumplings with cabbage and mushroom. It ia a tradition that you must try every dish. Ther are also a lot of sweet things to eat, for example cheesecake, ginger cake or poppy seed cake. We drink a traditional drink made from dried fruit.

After supper we sing or listen to Christmas carols and wait for Santa Claus to come. Sometimes presents appear suddenly under the Christmas tree.

At midnight we go to church to Midnight Mass. We pray and sing to celebrate the birth of Baby Jesus.

We usually spend the next two days with family and friends.