Christmas Traditions

Elizabeth listening to the Hungarian storyteller.
Joshua eating his creations.
The children enjoyed decorating cookies together.
Rolls of beigli ready to be put in the oven.
Rolling out the dough for the beigli.



Our church spent an evening together preparing for Christmas. Some women baked large quantities of real gingerbread cookies and the parts for gingerbread houses and had them ready for all the children to decorate. They used plastic bags to pipe white icing onto the delicious cookies, and the children were allowed to decorate as many as they wanted!! While they worked, we had a special visitor, a Hungarian storyteller, who read to the children. He was quite dramatic, which made for a very special time of quietly working together on the cookies. While the children licked their fingers and ate their finished cookies, the women worked on making beigli, a special Christmas bread. First a yeast dough is made, rolled out, and then a nut or poppy seed filling is spread on the dough (much like making cinnamon rolls). The dough is then rolled up and baked whole. After it is baked, it is served sliced, and is very delicious! Beigli is also for sale in the stores, and is a very special gift to give others. It's just not Christmas here without the beigli!