Czech Christmas: Carp in the Bathtub

Written by Brittany
For most Czech people, today (the 24th) is the main holiday. Today they will get together with family and eat their traditional foods of fish soup, carp, and potato salad. Their potato salad is a little different than what we're used to in the States, and my students thought it was really funny when I told them we traditionally eat potato salad in the summer at picnics, since to them, it is definitely a winter food.

The carp is the most interesting aspect of the Christmas celebration. There are carp sellers outside who sell live carp, which people then keep in their bathtubs until Christmas Eve. You can also ask the carp seller to kill the fish for you. I talked to several students about this. Some said their family has never taken home the carp live, others said they used to but everyone fought over who would have to kill the fish after they'd had it a couple days. And then there were some who said, "of course we keep the fish in our tub, why wouldn't we?" To which I really had no answer.

Carp Sellers out in Prague

Carp in the bathtub - to be clear, this is not our bathtub. I got this picture off Google.

NPR published an article about this tradition earlier this week, so if you'd like to know more, click here! The article is about Slovakia specifically, but many of the traditions are similar if not the same in the Czech Republic.

We are going to make the potato salad this year, but our bravery is not going to extend to the carp. We did buy some fish at the store which we intend to make in the same way, so we're going about 75% traditional.

The plan is to do a mix of Czech traditions (with the dinner tonight) and American traditions (still opening the majority of our presents on Christmas morning). My mom, step-dad, and sister are here to celebrate with us, and we are excited for our first Czech Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our friends & family back home! We hope you have had a beautiful Christmas season, and that you continue to celebrate and relax in the Peace of our Lord.

In conclusion, here's a new version of a favorite Christmas song. Many of you have probably already seen it, but it's definitely worth watching again! (And if you don't have Pentatonix's Christmas album, you really should buy it.) Merry Christmas!

Czech Christmas: St. Nicholas Day

Written by Brittany

This past Friday, December 5, was St. Nicholas Day here in the Czech Republic.

As my colleagues explained it to me, there are three "people" who are the main part of the day:
1. The Devil: his main job is to scare the children, making them think they've been naughty and that they will be taken away. He can also give lumps of coal (or potatoes) to the "bad" children.
2. The Angel: her main job is to reassure the children that the devil is lying, and that the children were good & they will be safe. She also asks the children to sing a song for St. Nicholas to help change his mind about the children being naughty.
3. St. Nicholas: once he has been swayed by the singing, he gives the children candy or presents and reminds them that they will come again next year. (My colleagues also wanted to be very clear that St. Nicholas is not Santa.)

St. Nicholas Day chocolates you can get at the grocery store

 You can see these three walking around together on December 5th each year, though where we were we only saw a couple little kids dressed like devils, and all the workers at our grocery store had devil horn headbands on.

I was also told that parents can hire the devil, angel, & St. Nicholas to stop by their house (as the man in the video below describes). That way their children definitely have the St. Nicholas experience.

This link is to a great video where a Czech man describes the holiday. There is also some pretty funny animation to go with it:
http://hello-unknown.com/special-editions/christmas/josefs-terror/

We'll try to keep updating with other Czech cultural traditions we learn this holiday season!

Christmas Card Reminder

Just a reminder to people who want to support us this season by sending Christmas cards: Cards would need to mailed by this weekend (Saturday, December 6) for us to receive them before we leave school for the Christmas holiday. But if you don't get them in the mail by then, please still send them! We'll just as happily open Christmas cards in January :)

Our address is:
Jadon & Brittany Huddleston
Gymnazium
Arabska 14
160 00 Praha 6
Czech Republic

Thanks to everyone we've already gotten cards & packages from! They (and you) are such a blessing!

Remembering: 10 Years Later

Written by Brittany

This week has been hard. Thanksgiving is always a hard holiday for me as I am surrounded by people and yet try to individually prepare myself for the coming and passing of December 2^nd yet again. And this year I have been working to come to terms with the fact that it has been 10 years, a full decade, since my dad died.

For someone under 30, a decade seems like a very long time. It’s over a third of my life. I remember past years having the thought, “Wow. Three years is a long time to be without a dad…but it will just get longer…one day it will be ten years.” And now that day is here. And now I think, “one day it will be 11 years…”

Reflecting on your Grief is an interesting, humbling process. I was 17 when my dad unexpectedly passed away, and I spent the next 4 ½ years, basically my whole college career, angry. Not at any particular people, not even at God, just angry. I went through the Grief Cycle a few times, each time really hating that it’s a Cycle, not just a Grief Line. Then I came back to anger and just got stuck. During this time I know I became selfish in my relationships, and I am blessed (and kind of amazed) that so many people stuck it out with me. I know I still struggle with that selfishness. And I often find myself wondering how I would have dealt with it differently if he had died when I was older, instead of a weird mix of child & adult.

Grief surprises you. I found myself preparing myself for days that I thought would be difficult, like my 18^th birthday or my wedding day. Only to pass those by with very little sadness, and then be totally caught off guard by other days that I didn’t think to prepare for, like 4^th of July or the day Jadon & I got engaged. And, as happens every year, the week leading up to today has been more difficult than today itself.

There are many things I’m still sad about. I’m sad that my dad will never meet and love Jadon. I’m sad that my dad never knew me as a teacher/wife/missionary/adult. I’m sad that I only ever knew my dad as a child knows her parent, and not as two adults know each other. I’m sad that he will never know my children. And I’m sad that it’s so much harder to recall the sound of his voice or the feel of his hugs.

I, of course, rejoice in the knowledge that he loved the Lord, and one day I will see him again. But if you’ve known Grief, you know that while that thought is a blessed comfort, it’s not every day. Some days Grief is just sorrowful and maddening and hollow.

Time and the Lord are such healers, and the day-to-day now is miraculously easier than it was 10 years ago. It is often easy to speak about my dad, to laugh about things he said, to share memories with those who knew him and those who didn’t. But there are also precious moments of remembering that are still very difficult.

I feel like as a 10-year veteran I should have more answers about How To Deal. But I really don’t. I found people who would love me in a very broken state, and I clung. I found reassurances from the Lord (Isaiah 41:13 especially), and I clung. I found humor, and I clung. And I found Grace, and I clung. 

I held on very tightly to things that kept me up. So I guess that’s my great advice: Hold On. Cling to people, and pets, and God. Cling to light, and humor, and joy. Cling to your teddy bear, and your favorite songs, and your 6-hour Pride & Prejudice miniseries. There will be days where you just barely stay afloat. And that’s ok. You Will Make It, even through days when all you can do is cling with your fingertips.

Each year when I taught at Olivet, on December 2^nd I told all my freshman students about losing my dad, and coming to school, and being so angry. I told them the biggest mistake I made was not being honest about how hard it was. And I told them that if they need someone to be honest with, then they should come find me. So I guess that’s some advice too: Be Honest. (And if you reading this need someone, come find me.) I wanted to appear strong, and in control, and “oh, I’m fine.” But that wasn’t truth, and I suffered more for it.

And one final thing I’ve learned: Remember Your People. The ones you’ve lost and the ones you still have.

At our wedding, Jadon & I had a tea station set up in memory of my dad, and there was a list of things I learned from him that I set out as a way to include him in that day. So that’s what I’ll end with. Some things that I wrote 2 ½ years ago seem truer now than when I first wrote them.

Thanks for reading. For my friends, mom, Katie, (and grandma) who have been around the last 10 years, thanks for all you did, even when you thought you weren’t doing anything. For all of us who feel the sting of Grief: Hold On. Be Honest. Remember Your People. 

One of my favorite pictures of my dad, an especially good one to place on a tea station :)

 Things my dad taught me:

·      Tea is not just for “tea time.” It is for all times.
·      Amazing Grace is the most appropriate song no matter the occasion.

·      It is always a good idea to be self-deprecating. Especially if you are a foreigner.

·      Be fluent in a language other than your own.

·      Keep track of your gas mileage – though I still don’t understand why.

·      Heaven is something we do not understand, something we will not understand until we get there. But it is good. And it should always be your goal.

·      If you want to make teenagers pay attention when you’re talking, mention kissing.

·      Story telling is the best way to communicate any truth.

·      Find your home and cherish it. The words “Welcome Home” are not to be taken or given lightly.

·      Everyone has faults, everyone makes mistakes, and everyone deserves to be forgiven.

·      The King James Version is the best version of the Bible. (Though I’m pretty sure he said this only because his name was James.)

·      It’s ok to cry.

·      You don’t always have to act your age.

·      Making time for your child is never the wrong choice.

Every time we said goodbye, at airports or in parking lots or even just on the phone, he asked, “What do you always remember?” Even when I got older. Even when I was a teenager and the answer was a little embarrassing. Every single time. “What do you always remember?” And every time I’d answer, never doubting, even now, that it was true: “Daddy always loves you.”

My dad taught me a lot of things, but one of the most important lessons was that just because you’re not with a person doesn’t mean you aren’t loved. Just because you can’t be together doesn’t mean you’re forgotten. And just because you may not see someone for months, or years, at a time does not mean that they aren’t looking forward to the day they see you again. If anything, they’re looking forward to it more.

An old favorite of me & my dad

“To have been loved deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever.”   -- J.K. Rowling