I made traditional Czech Christmas dinner today (Czechs do Christmas on Dec 24). 

Okay...so it wasn't totally traditional, since I didn't keep a carp in my bathtub for a couple of days and then fry it up myself. But we did have fish and Czech-style potato salad. My family thought the potato salad (with peas and carrots) would be weird, but they all really liked it.  

The most traditional soup as an appetizer on Christmas is fish soup, but quite a few of my friends do mushroom soup instead.  Maybe the people in the region where I lived are particularly good mushroom hunters.  Anyway, I made mushroom soup with mushrooms I picked and dried myself in the Czech Republic.

Then we rang a bell and turned to the Christmas tree to see what Ježíšek (baby Jesus) had brought us.

It all reminded me of a lovely Christmas I spent with a dear friend in the Czech Republic.