Christmas through children's eyes

As a child from an Orthodox family, whose church celebrates holidays according to the Julian calendar, everything about the date of Christmas has always been strange to me.
Some of my Orthodox relatives from Catholic countries or from countries whose Orthodox churches have switched to the Gregorian calendar, celebrate Christmas like all believers of the Catholic faith.
Well, after Christmas, they also celebrate the New year, respectively.
And we always celebrated the New Year, then Christmas, and then our Orthodox New Year...
Imagine how confusing it seemed to a small child 🤔😀

What did Christmas mean to you when you were a child?

When I was a child, Christmas always brought me joy, either because of the festive atmosphere or the gifts I received then, or because of the free time of our parents who then had days off and could spend time with us,

It is our custom, that on the eve of Christmas, a solemn lenten dinner is made in the house and a so-called "Pečenica" is brought into the house (usually a pig or lamb on a spit), it has always been a great challenge for me not to break the lenten dinner.

Then our parents brings straw into the house, which is placed under the table, and banknotes, sweets and some small gifts are inserted into it.
Then we, children are released into that straw, imitating little chickens, ummaging through the scattered straw, looking for sweets and coins.

And in the early Christmas morning, the "Položajnik" leave - ceremonially dressed, previously chosen people or children, who go to the agreed homes, where the first guests of Christmas day are received with great honors, at a festive breakfast or lunch.
It is said that the first person to enter the house on Christmas depends on how the whole year will be for the household.
The "Položajnik" then breaks the Christmas bun with the hosts, drinks some drinks and holds a prayer.

When I was little, I liked to be a "Položajnik", although it was difficult for me to get up early in the morning, because after all, where I agreed to be a "Položajnik", I need to be the first to enter the house, so there is no delay, so that someone does not overtake me...

I remember one Christmas, which we spent in a cottage in the village, I was about 12 or 13 years old.
We had a pig on a spit, which barely survived the lenten Christmas Eve dinner. We sent an SMS message: "While you are struggling with the lenten hake, you smell something nice with your nose. The piglet is baking in the oven, happy Christmas Eve" (In the Serbian language, this rhymes beautifully).
Then I was with my mother, father and brother, and we enjoyed Christmas Eve and Christmas.
According to the agreement, in the morning I was a "Položajnik" at my uncle's house.

I loved those Christmas holidays and the moments we spent together. Later, my brother moved to Scotland, and my mother, father and I stayed heremin serbia.
So I also went my own way, founded my own family...
Those Christmases with my mom, dad and brother remained in my great memories.

I don't have any pictures of those Christmases when I was a child, so here is a picture of the last Christmas eve, lenten dinner, I spent with my mother and father, before my father passed away.
We always played and joked, so the photo is like that.

Our lenten Christmas Eve dinner

Our lenten Christmas Eve dinner