“I said. ‘Look Grandma! It’s snowing!’

As my grandma turned her head and looked out the window, she said, ‘Snowing? But it’s the middle of September. That’s not possible.’

Mom said Grandma’s mind was going. I’m not quite sure where it’s going but I hope it comes back. ‘No Grandma. Silly. It’s December.’

‘December? But we just went to the pool.’

‘Nooo, that was last time we were here.’

‘Agh, whatever. No point in arguing with someone who got my mother’s stubbornness.’ Grandma then went to the kitchen and talked to Mommy.

Last Little Christmas, Grandma was so happy, but then her mind started leaving.”

“What did you do last Christmas?”

“Last Christmas, we came to Grandma’s a couple days before Little Christmas because me, Mommy, and my aunts all help her make the food for Little Christmas. I got to help make the pierogies and vushka, and the braided bread. And when I got tired I’d go play with Stevie and Marks.”

“What’s vushka?”

“It’s like a little pierogi but shaped like a little ear. It has mushroom filling and it goes in the borscht.”

“Mushrooms are gross.”

“No, they are not.”

“Yes, they are. Mushrooms are gross and slimy.”

“If you don’t eat mushrooms for Little Christmas, what do you eat?”

“On Christmas in my family we wake up, eat some croissants and jam and then we go around the family from oldest to youngest and open the stockings one by one. Then everyone does whatever they want until dinner, and then we eat turkey and stuffing, and bread, and green beans, and mashed potatoes, and gravy. Then we have cookies and tea while we open the presents from youngest to oldest in a big circle. Then Christmas is over.”

“Wow, all your food is different.”

“Really? What do you eat?”

“We feast on the epiphany, which is January 6th, and we make a twelve course meal with fish, and borscht with vushka, and pierogies, and kutia (that is a pudding that you throw on the ceiling and if it sticks you have good luck), pickled mushrooms, holubtsi, ooh! and uzvar the best drink ever! Sometimes Mommy makes it in summer too. But the feast takes a really long time to make. We have to prepare weeks before we actually eat.”

“Weeks is a really long time.”

“I know!”

“Do you do presents?”

“Yes. On Nicholas Eve, Saint Nicholas will come into your house and hide presents for you in shoes and under pillows, and when you wake up you get to find them and eat them.”

“Eat them?”

“Our presents are usually candy and cookies.”

“Wow. I kinda want cookies as a gift too.”

“Maybe, you could ask for some?”

“Maybe.”

“Our traditions are so different.”

“Yeah, but yours do sound cool.”

“So do yours.”

“Hm. I bet I can swing higher than you.”

“No, I’ll totally beat you!”