It’s the same every year. We’re Catholic — the sense of the importance of tradition is even present in our theology, so a Wigilia menu? Why, it’s really no trouble at all to repeat the same basic menu year after year. Sure, we change the deserts up every now and then, but even they are on a rotation, a three-year cycle like the daily Mass readings.

I end up with the same duty: mushroom and cabbage patrol. Occasionally, I get to cut up prunes for this or prepare the veggies for that, but by and large, my job doesn’t kick in until Wigilia itself, with the fish course.

But every now and then, I manage to change things up a bit.