The Christmas television schedule is more or less the same every year. Fairy tales, the old ones such as Pysna princezna, The Proud Princess, Princezna se zlatou hvezdou na cele, The Princess with the Golden Star on her Brow, Obusku z pytle ven, Take the Club from the Sack, and then the newer ones like Silene smutna princezna, The Terribly Sad Princess, or Tri orisky pro Popelku, Three Nuts for Cinderella. There's also no shortage of old Czech and foreign comedies, such as the film Babicka, The Grandmother, or the musicals My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins. One Christmas hit is missing from the schedule, however, the Soviet fairy tale Mrazik, Frost, which will be engraved in the hearts of the children of the 1970's and 1980's and their parents forever.
In the afternoon of Christmas Eve, the Christmas tree is decorated, with whatever ornaments are in fashion at the moment. While in the 1980's the popular decorations were glass ornaments of various shapes and sizes, artificial colored candles, and chocolate figures from work, which adults received free from the socialized firms as a Christmas "bonus" from the state, recently the preferred decorations have become natural ornaments, red apples, walnuts, gingerbread, straw or wooden figures and classical candles. Naturally, it depends on the family what they hang on their tree, whether "socialistic" ornaments, natural ones, or even "imported" decorations in the Western style.
People have fasted and waited all day until evening on the 24th to eat any meat, and must be satisfied with the traditional Czech lunch of lentil soup and cucumber, in order to see the golden pig on the wall symbolizing prosperity. All day long mothers are busy preparing the Christmas Eve feast of potato salad, wrapped carp cutlets, fish soup and some even bake a vanocka. Parents see to the presents, and if they haven't wrapped them all, then this is the time to take care of that. They cannot forget to hide them somewhere, preferably somewhere locked, so nobody ruins their Christmas surprise, or worse, that small children might be deprived of the illusion that their gifts are brought by Baby Jesus.
The Christmas Eve dinner is usually attended by the whole family, including Grandma and Grandpa, as being alone during Christmas is considered one the most painful things there is. People are trying to be considerate to each other, but sometimes it happens that all the built-up stress from the pre-Christmas preparations boils over right on Christmas Eve and family members begin to argue over trifles, like burnt food or a missing gift. Comments like "This is the worst Christmas ever!" and "I hate Cristmas!" will be heard, as always. But Christmas is such a big holiday that people compromise in the end and sit down at the Christmas table together.
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