In Poland, Christmas is often called Gwiazdka which means "Little Star". 

Polish people celebrate Christmas when the first star appears in the sky on Christmas Eve .  All that day the family have to wait until the first star appears before they eat - then the feasting starts  A place is always set for the Baby Jesus. Straw is put under the table cloth to remind them of the stable in Bethlehem.

A Polish Christmas dinner always starts with the breaking of the Opłatek - a thin wafer . The dinner consists of soup, fish, honey and noodles with poppy seeds, dumplings with sauerkraut and mushrooms. For dessert they have cakes, fruit and nuts. 

At midnight families are summoned to  church by the bells. Most of the Polish people like to go to Pasterka or "The Shepherd's Mass". The church is brightly lit and decorated with Christmas trees and an elaborate creche. 

Christmas creches with Mary, Joseph and others around the crib of baby Jesus   are a tradition in Poland. Every year during the Christmas season, in Krakow, creches shaped like the church of St. Mary are made by artists and amateurs, and entered in an annual competition.  

After the great feast everyone sings Polish  carols  round the Christmas tree - choinka - which is often suspended from the ceiling. This is the time Christmas gifts are handed out