Comments on: Christmas at our house – Czech style / Vanoce meho detstvi

By: Maja

Maja — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:23:36 +0000

Hi Tanja,

you made me laugh and cry at the same time. What a lovely description of our ‘good old times’. Very well written. It has touched my heart. Tuzex, bony, my first jeans bought in Tuzex – nothing can match up to that special feeling . The older I get the more I appreciate the lovely times we had when we were children. Thanks for sharing your memories. Big hug from Wales. Mája

By: Do you believe in "Jezisek"? | Czechmatediary

Do you believe in "Jezisek"? | Czechmatediary — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:51:54 +0000

[...] time when I found out that Jesus does not bring us presents (for those who don’t know, it is Jesus who traditionally brings Christmas presents to the Czech and Slovak children). But I just can’t remember….I remember writing him [...]

By: Interview with a Czech photographer MIchael Borek | Czechmatediary

Interview with a Czech photographer MIchael Borek | Czechmatediary — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:25:32 +0000

[...] then in the morning you had to fish out your pictures from the tub, just like you would do it with the carp at Christmas time. I will never forget the ecstatic feeling I got once the picture started to appear in the [...]

By: Tanja

Tanja — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:34:13 +0000

Hahaha— ja vim, ty fotky rano me opravdu dostavaji! Proto se taky fotime na stedry vecer! Je to neco jako beauty make-over…ale obracenym smerem

By: Martina

Martina — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 05:07:39 +0000

Me se vice libi ceska tradice Jeziska….. Americane oteviraji darky 25-teho rano. My travime vestsinou vanoce u rodicu meho manzela. Pamatuji si, ze kdyz moji synovci byli maly, prijeli k babicce a dedovi a ja jsem tam byla s manzelem pres noc taky. Vetsina z nas jsou cesi, ale svagrova je americanka, tak to bylo po americku, otevirani darku rano 25-teho. Kluci nas vsechny vzbudili asi v 5 rano, protoze jim tatinek rekl, ze nemuzou otevrit darky, dokud VSICHNI nebudou u stromecku. Tak jsme se tam dobelhali v pyzamech, ja kazdy vlas na jinou stranu ;o) a oteviralo se a delali se fotky ;o)

Ceska tradice je mhohem vic promyslenejsi….. Deti otevrou darky 24-teho vecer, kazdy je nastrojeny, udelaji si krasne fotky, a pak jdou deti spat. A rano uz nechaji dospelaky spat dele, protoze si sami hrajou s novymi hrackami!!!!!

By: Tanja

Tanja — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:34:14 +0000

PS: and by the way, Kimmie, thank you for sticking up for me!!

By: Tanja

Tanja — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:32:45 +0000

Ahoj Lenko,

(Thank you! I am so very flattered that this is the one blog you come to visit – still blushing about it.)

That was such a great comment! I love to hear other people stories – they are all so similar!! It really just feels good to reminisce about the old times….The beauty of it is that if we still lived there and Czech was still communist we would have hated it SO much! But since we just have those memories they kind get this pink haze and it all sounds so good! My husband always says – after he reads one of these posts – “be careful so people don’t actually think that you MISS communism!”:)

PS: jo a mne je to jedno, jestli me nazyvas Tanja nebo Tanya ) Ja jsem vlastne Tatana (Tana) ale to je v Americe nepouzitelne..

By: lenka

lenka — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:01:35 +0000

Sorry, I meant to write Tanja. Have a Russian friend who spells her name Tanya. Have a wonderful day today and keep up the great job.

By: lenka

lenka — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:00:11 +0000

This hits way too close to home. Maybe it is because I just finished our potato salad for tomorrow, finished decorating some of the christmas cookies and am about done with wrapping gifts. Was the christmas tree stand fiasco in every family in Czech. Because that seem to be universal over there. Oh, good old communist stands. We actually opened gifts after dinner. Everybody had to (well still do) sit throu our dad’s having seconds and thirds and fourth helping of his favorite carp. Now we laugh but as kids we thought it would never end. We all swore to see Jezisek one time or another, and I still believe I saw him. Not sure if that is pathetic since I am 33 years old, but who cares. I think it is cute. This was one of a few times a year we actually had a REAL cola with dinner too. I can still taste it, and for some reason cola never tastes better then on Christmas Eve. I carry this tradition with my kids, who are not allowed sodas otherwise and they love it. We actually celebrate both Christmas Eve with Jezisek – just couple of gifts. My husband says Jezisek is cheap since he only brings couple of gifts for the kids, unlike Santa that goes all out the next day. But then again, as you said, Santa has the help and Jezisek just his hands and bare back.
We spend two Christmas in Czech and I think my daughter’s favorite memory is the carp. We miss that here. Of course it is always interesting to explain this tradition to a bunch of kindergarteners here in the states. Hey, how many of you actually ended up taking a bath with the carp, to your parents horror? The golden pig is great. Who would not see golden pig – really was it a golden pig or just a stars from starving all day long after having to smell all the wonderful food? We actually have a small chocolate pig wrapped in gold wrapper with red bow that my mom takes out every Christmas Eve. That thing is probably as old as I am. So we all saw a golden pig before dinner.
As Christmas Eve day is here and I am getting ready for our tradition, I miss the carp swimming in the tub, pulling the tree out today and decorating and smelling all the goodies we took for granted as children.
Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy rok.
Tanya, thank you so much for doing this. You do a great job. This is the first blog site, really the only one I go on and I am so glad to have found you.

By: Lenka

Lenka — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 06:26:04 +0000

Hmmmmmm mozna me to mamka jen namluvila. Ja nevim. Musim se ji zeptat.