For Christmas Eve, local Spring Hill family, the Peruginis, are celebrated with forty-five fishes. They spent all day making the fish dishes for their Christmas Eve dinner.
The tradition started out as the normal seven fishes, but they were always concerned if the kids would show up with their assigned fishes. There was also discussion of whether certain fishes counted for the seven fishes- did crab count? How about calamari? They would make extra fishes just in case some of the fishes were disqualified.
This led to the family making significantly more than seven fishes. Then they decided that each year they would make more fishes than the year before. Last year they had forty different fishes and this year they set the goal at forty-five.
It is actually much easier to reach forty-five than you would expect, explained son Paul. You can find about 10 types of canned fish. There are several different types of dried fish. You can find at least ten different types of shellfish.
Mama Perugini says her favorite part is seeing the grandkids. She loves seeing her children, but the grandkids are like Tiramisu. Sweet and fun and full of energy.
