Traditional Slovakian Christmas Dinner

It has been almost 6 years I have not been home for Christmas. It has been a time when wherever I was at that time of the year, Christmas was not a holiday to celebrate. Therefore coming back home was a whole new experience on its own. This year, Tompa was joining me for his very first time.
Several things have changed... My parents bought a new sofa, re-arranged the furniture, bought a brand-new Christmas tree, they themselves got older, my now married sister is pregnant... surprises on their own.

But these changes are quite minor to me, Tompa himself has been thrown into a completely new world. Even though his roots are partially Slovak, he has not witnessed the traditional Christmas feast in decades. Yet, slowly, as the evening was approaching, little glimpses from his childhood were popping into his mind every now and then. Here is the whole story:

(Here they are - traditional croissant-like Bratislava Rolls with lovely pinkish Raspberry Linzer Cookies squeezed in between)

Christmas in Slovakia starts with the dinner on the 24th, traditionally at 18.00. We had a minor delay in cooking, therefore started an hour later. During the day, only cooking, preparation and relaxing is allowed. Some people fast, others eat only a moderate amount of food, anyhow, meat is not encouraged to be eaten. One can drink or just hang around.
Towards the evening, Christmas presents are wrapped and whenever occasion occurs, these are delivered secretly under the Christmas tree. Once all the food is ready, family is gathered in a closed room waiting for the father to ring the cow´s bell. This is when our own Christmas fun started:

Dad ringed the bell and we all ran out to him. He wished everyone Merry Christmas and kissed us on both cheeks. We got seated behind the table and dad toasted to our health. He was the one in charge of coordinating the courses.
Firstly, we had a small bowl of little baked buns with milk and poppy seeds, symbolising wealth. The milk is served warm, so we had to eat quickly, otherwise the buns would get all soggy which was rather unappetizing.
The second course was a crunchy sweet thin wafer. Dad topped them with honey and folded them in four, representing each season of the upcoming year. Eating these ensures a sweet and non-problematic year.
Then the real food hits the table. A bowl of warm fish soup with croutons followed by carp and two types of potato salad. All of them finger-licking.

(And another tray of goodies, starting from left, we have: Candied Fruit Roulade, Chestnut Flowers, Capuccino Hearts, Cinnamon Hearts, Oatmeal Cookies, Ginger Cookies and Coconut Puffs)

After the dinner, we gathered around the "dessert table". All kinds of cakes, biscuits, cookies and candies were topping the table. Nobody was hungry, as everyone was secretly peeking under the Christmas tree. Finally, after sharing a few desserts, dad gave a permission to distribute what Santa brought to us this year. We all have been very good this year and were awarded accordingly.

My sister´s husband got a pickling oil, which I was quite jealous about. Other than that, my presents were fabulous. Got a laptop from which I am writing to all of you right now :-)

(And the last one - the "raw plate" of non-baked goodies - Chocolate Bon Bons, Chestnut Truffles, Marzipan Mushrooms and Carrot Truffles).

Back to food now! As obvious from the picture, there was a countless number of cookies at the "dessert table". It would be impossible to reveal all the recipes here in one shot. Some of you might remember my Monday Spice Collection of 4 spice mixtures I gave to my sister for her Wedding day; recipes that I subsequently gave away every Monday in the following month. It was a lot of fun for me to do it, since I kept remembering her D-day every week.
Likewise, this year´s Christmas meant a lot to me, since Tompa was joining us for the very first time and enjoyed a whole bunch of it.

Therefore I am happy to announce my new collection of recipes - Monday Christmas Cookie. From now on, each Monday, I will bring a new recipe of a cookie I ate...

Starting next Monday, the very first cookie happens to be the most traditional one - Medovnik - a cinnamony Honey Cake.