Christmas Again - January 7th!

One of my favorite memories of Christmas as a child growing up in the small town of Alpha, New Jersey was that we got to celebrate Christmas twice.  Yes, twice with some of our friends who were members of the Saint John The Baptist Orthodox Church that is situated on the corner of Second and East Central Avenue. 

In our neighborhood this church was known as the onion church because of its onion shaped steeple dome.  This is a predominate feature on most Russian churches. Article on Onion Dome Steeples

Each year the Russian Orthodox Religion celebrate Christmas thirteen days after the traditional Western Christmas.  Therefore we convinced our parents that we should leave our tree up until after the Russian Orthodox Christmas and New Year.   Our parents loved Christmas just as much as we did, and I do expect it was for this reason that we still had a tree on Russian Orthodox Christmas.

One of our dear family friends Anna Anky Penyak Moyer often told us stories of their Russian Orthodox Christmas celebrations.  She said her parents threw straw on the floors and hid oranges and apples amongst the straw.  When they awoke on Russian Orthodox Christmas they would search for these treats, and were thrilled to get them.  Can you imagine the children of today being satisfied with this on Christmas morning?   The last time I had been in St. Johns of Alpha was for Anky's funeral in July of 1993. 

Wishing my nephew's wife Luda, and her family a very Merry Christmas this coming Saturday!  They have a very special reason to celebrate with the birth of their fist baby on December 23, 2011. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate an Orthodox Christmas!