As you can see by my last name, I’m Italian. My dad’s side is full-blooded Italian and my great-grandparents all immigrated here in the early 1900s from southern Italy.

Growing up like most kids, I loved Christmas day and opening presents alongside both of my sisters. But unlike most kids, I looked forward to Christmas Eve the most. That’s because like many Italians, we celebrated the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve at my grandparent’s house.

I have a lot of fond memories going over to their house on Huffman Avenue for nearly two decades before they passed away. I always looked forward to the food, the presents, the laughter and fun with my cousins, aunts and uncles.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes is a tradition that many Italian-Americans celebrate. It’s believed to have become popular in America by Italian immigrants in the late 1800s to early 1900s. The Feast of the Seven Fishes varies family to family, but I’m going to walk you through my family’s Christmas Eve meal and what it included.

Join me, won’t you? And bring your appetite to mangia.

A traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes suggests, as the name implies, seven different seafood dishes. Some of those fish included baccala, shellfish, eel, squid, scungilli and clams.

My family’s take on it was slightly different. While we had fish served, it wasn’t all seven seafood dishes. We also made sure to have 13 dishes on the table which represented Jesus and his 12 disciples.

The following is what was served at my grandparents. My parents have changed it over the years, for instance substituting cheese raviolis, shrimp, scallops and tilapia in place of a few dishes.

•Sush: Sush is a delicious dough fried in oil. Walking into my grandparents every Christmas Eve, it was the first thing you would smell regardless of what time of day you went over. Sush was always made first thing in the morning.

You will need to make a very soft dough for it to work by mixing six cups of flour, two packs of yeast, one tablespoon of salt and two to three cups of lukewarm water, or until your dough is a little soupy. Mix together and place in a greased bowl and let rise for 25 minutes. Put oil on your hands, knead in the bowl, cover and let sit for another 25 minutes.

You will want to put oil into a large pan, and set the heat to 8 or 9 on your stove. Wait until the oil is hot in your pan and drop a few into the large pan. Make sure you put oil on your hands before putting them into the hot oil so they don’t stick to your hands.

Let the sush fry for two minutes, flip, and let it cook another two minutes before removing and straining oil off it. You’ll want to place into a large bowl once they’re done with paper towels for the oil.

Cover the bowl filled with sush with a nice, clean hand towel and let them set until you’re ready to eat.

• Celery with oil: While it may sound strange at first glance, this was one of my favorite things to snack on Christmas Eve. You want to put celery sticks out and in a shallow bowl, add a cup of oil, a palmful of salt and half a palmful of pepper. You’ll dip the celery into it and mix it together.

• Cabbage Stew: This consists of bacalla, savoy cabbage and spaghetti sauce.

• Cauliflower Stew: This stew consists of tomato sauce, haddock, cauliflower and peeled, cubed potatoes cooked together.

Other dishes included Angel Hair Pasta, Baccala, Smelt, Perch or Haddock, Anise Celery, Lupini Beans, Vinegar peppers with black olives, a large salad with an oil and vinegar dressing as well as a mixture of fruits, nuts and Italian desserts.