Christmas Day 2025, Day 2 & 3 Kings.

Yesterday, we had pierogi, cabbage with lentils, and vegetable salad for dinner. For dessert, we had gingerbread cake. All was provided by our friend and landlady, Renata.

During the day, we mainly watched different Christmas movies and a good old movie, "The Bishop's Wife."

We had to pause it at 8 PM because we had a scheduled Zoom meeting with Joan's kids and grandkids. I was happy about that because it had been a long time between meetings, maybe two months. With Joan's failing memory, she needs to stay visually connected to her family. She has not been happy with this two-month disconnect. 

We talked for an hour with Joan's children, Karen and Joey, our grandchildren, Nicole and Joe, and Joey's partner, Mary. We were surprised that Nicole has been to Hawaii. We didn't know about that.

After our conversation was over, we finished watching The Bishop's Wife, and Joan went to bed at 11 PM. I finished my night listening to Christmas music and writing this blog.

I have a calendar on which I write anything scheduled for a particular day. The problem is, I don't always check the calendar, and it sometimes creates a problem. That's what happened today, although it didn't turn out to be a big problem.

Paige was scheduled to come today, at 11:00 a.m., and sit with Joan for 3 hours. So, this morning, at 11:30, my phone rang and woke me up. It was Paige apologizing for oversleeping and not being on time. I told her it wasn't a problem because, actually, she just woke me up. We rescheduled our meeting for 1:30, and she arrived on time.

Now today, in Poland, is the second day of Christmas. The majority of every kind of business is also closed today. So, I had 3 hours, and didn't really know what to do with it. It was 2:00 p.m., so I decided to go to the church on Koscielna Street. When I arrived there, a Mass had just begun, so I stayed until it was over.

From there, I decided to go to the Saint Francis church and look at the szopka. The most famous attraction in Poznań is the huge, moving Christmas nativity scene in the Church of St. Francis Seraphic on Bernardyński Square, considered one of the largest in Europe, with life-size figures and many moving elements. This nativity scene, built since the 1950s, delights visitors every year with its monumental scenery and is one of the main Christmas attractions in Greater Poland. 

Being a no-work day in Poland, the church was packed full of people coming to see this szopka. I took several pictures of it with my phone, but I don't think they really do it justice. I will go back on Tuesday with my camera and long lens so I can get better pictures of it. I do want to show them to you because it is such a beautiful sight.

Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar: 

Who were the three wise kings? 

The actual existence of the three wise men of the East could never be proven. The three men came from what is now called the Middle East. Their costume, described as Oriental, suggests they came from Persia. According to legend, the Magi were buried in a common tomb, which is said to have been found by St. Helena in 326. In July 1164, the bones arrived in the Cathedral of Cologne, where they rest and are venerated as relics in the sanctuary of the Magi.