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Family and Carols Make It Christmas

MAYFIELD — Christmas is not even nearly over for Christians who follow the Julian calendar. The twelve-day celebration started Thursday and families we ta...

MAYFIELD -- Christmas is not even nearly over for Christians who follow the Julian calendar. The twelve-day celebration started Thursday and families we talked to say it's much quieter than the Christmas most of us know, and they like it that way.

The presents at the Sorochka household in Mayfield have sat under the tree a little longer. A wait they say is well worth it.

"Put all your emotions together of the 25th and eliminate all of the hustle and bustle of stores and everything else, and you finally realize what it's all about. It's about the birth of Christ," said Father John Sorochka, who is priest at St. John Russian Orthodox Church in Mayfield.

Fr. John Sorochka invited Newswatch 16 inside his family's Christmas. The Russian Orthodox priest follows the Julian calendar which means Christmas falls on January 7 each year.  Each year his family comes to Mayfield to celebrate.

"This is just basically history, family memories, and so I would travel anywhere in the world to be with my family today," said Anna Marie Chwastiak, who lives in Florida but flew in for the holiday.

And for those who can't be there, they use speaker phone to share in the tradition. The Sorochkas said after church and before the big Christmas feast, they spend much of the day calling family members across the country and singing Christmas carols in English and Russian.

"It's our way to bring some of our Christmas spirit to them and it's grown to be a tradition," Chwastiak said.

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