Holy Night Supper

On Saturday we went to a very special event. It is called Holy Night Supper and it was started by our close friend, Sarah Siegler, and her husband, Eric. We went to Ukraine with Eric and Sarah to adopt our children - they adopted Matthew and we adopted Katerina, both in the same orphanage outside of Lugansk, Ukraine. That was in 2002, when Katerina was 8 months old and Matthew was 14 months old.



Flash forward a few years and there we all are at the Siegler household every January on the Saturday night closest to the Russian celebration of Christmas (Jan. 7th). Sarah's grandparents were Ukrainian and they did HNS every year when she was growing up. She is continuing the tradition with her kids and we are fortunate enough to be a part of it.



So what exactly do we do at HNS? Well, Sarah prepares a meal that is similar to the traditional Ukrainian Christmas/New Year meal. And it doesn't stop there. Each food has a special meaning and there are certain rules we must follow. For example, we must wash our hands with silver coins to bring wealth into the new year. We have an empty chair at the table to represent the seat for the Christ Child that will be coming in the new year. We kiss the four corners of the table while we hold hands to indicate sharing love with all four corners of the earth....etc. It's a very special dinner and we love it.

We usually go down early enough for the kids to play and help Sarah and Eric prepare the dinner, so we have plenty of time to talk. We only see them a few times a year so there's a lot to catch up on!

After dinner, we open a few gifts and play with the kids. It's a very special time and we treasure our friendship with the Sieglers very much.

See the photos at www.dallowphotos.shutterfly.com. I'll probably write more about it later but I'm too tired to write anything now! Have more to write because the day after HNS is Grandfather Frost...another special event. More soon!