oh, it was such a long job at the time!
then after all the cleaning, decorating, and cooking, we would wait until the appearance of the evening star. only under its clear and beautiful light would we then go to the table, usually between 8 and 9 p.m., and sit down to our family christmas eve dinner. the oldest person said the opening prayer and broke the large christmas wafer, which we all passed around and shared, each person breaking off a piece. (this is a communion-like wafer that is specially blessed in church in preparation for christmas.) after that, everyone did their best to sample at least a portion of 