here is a little paper envelope of oplatki, which is the special christmastime host wafer eaten by many eastern europeans on christmas eve. (see the little spinning wheel in the corner?)
i am half sicilian, but next up, i am a quarter slovak. christmas eve dinner for slovaks is sautéed pierogies (potato and prune), bean soup, and, occasionally in my childhood, a little piece of oplatke with honey on it.
the next morning, christmas morning, you eat refried pierogies, with kielbasa and scrambled eggs.
certain convents manufacture the hosts for christmas -- i think the poor claires are one of them. they were always sort of an afterthought for us -- i think maybe my grandparents mailed them to us -- it was all more about the pierogies.
these days, since the refried pierogies on christmas morning were always what everybody REALLY wanted, not so much the ones the night before, we just do them christmas morning now, and skip the whole bean soup dinner. we get our kielbasi at the krakaus market in northern liberties. ben has had nooooo problem getting into the spirit of kielbasa and eggs and pierogies on christmas morning.
i had my ex-husband for long enough to completely indoctrinate him to pierogies, and he was better with the dough than i was. furthermore, he got the pasta maker in the divorce, and that is what he used to make it so good. so, these last three or four christmases since we have been unmarried, we make the pierogies together anyway.
but, back to the oplatki. this is them. apparently, the white ones are for humans, and the pink one is for pets!
i found these online and ordered envelopes of them for my dad to send to his siblings. i hope they get a kick out of it.