MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Christmas! My mom came to visit, and our plan was to fly to Amsterdam yesterday, but I came down with the stomach flu, so unfortunately (especially for my mom) we are just sitting around the house. I did get to experience a traditional Czech Christmas dinner last weekend, however. Some of my roommate's high school students cooked for us. Traditional Christmas dinner in the Czech Republic is carp. Yes, the fish. Something I never thought I'd eat. But I had carp soup, and it was pretty good. We also had potato salad, which was delicious!! And lots of cookies and candy for dessert. There is no Santa Claus here- they say that baby Jesus brings the gifts. So what usually happens is everyone sits down for dinner (which they have on the 24th) and then someone makes an excuse to leave the room and they ring a bell- which means the presents have arrived!

Something interesting that I've noticed here is that nobody gets offended when you say "Merry Christmas," even though the Czech Republic is 59% Atheist/Agnostic. In contrast, 59% of Americans consider themselves to be religious, yet there is this pressure to say "Happy Holidays" so that we don't offend anyone. Am I the only one that finds this a bit strange?

Anyway, I will hopefully be over the flu in the next few days, and Mom and I can start having some fun. Maybe we'll take a few day trips. I'll keep you posted!