Before our five children hang stockings on the mantle or set out cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer on Christmas Eve, Treasa and I will transform our Rodgers Forge kitchen into a two-person pierogi factory.
Using a cherished family recipe handed down from my maternal ancestors from Poland, my wife and I will inevitably spend the wee hours before Christmas making, kneading and rolling out dough and then dropping homemade potato-and-cheese filling into each carefully crafted circle. We’ll press the dough together to form what are essentially large, semi-circular dumplings that we’ll boil and then, ultimately, fry and sprinkle with granulated sugar at our Christmas celebration.
Pierogi-making in the same week we also wrap presents, clean house and await the frenzy and wonder of Christmas morn isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s tedious, time-consuming and a bit exhausting. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Holding onto traditions even as we create new ones is an essential way to connect our Christmases to those who have gone before and to those yet to come.
When my family shares the oplatek on Christmas Eve – a thin, unleavened piece of bread embossed with images of the Nativity – we’re celebrating the Holy Family in a way that also lifts up families past and present. Our children are still too young to appreciate the power and beauty of this Polish tradition that goes back hundreds of years, but the idea is to express our love for each member of the family as we break and share pieces of the wafer. It’s also a time to ask for forgiveness for any wrongdoings, anticipating the start of the new year with a clean slate.
When we listen to kolendy, those beautiful Polish Christmas carols that often take the form of sweet lullabies, we’re hearing tunes and lyrics that retell the Christmas story across the ages.
And when we mark our doors with a special chalk blessing on the Epiphany, we’re honoring the same Christ made manifest to the Magi more than 2,000 years ago and asking him to bless all those who enter our house in the new year.
My Irish-American wife, who wasn’t familiar with any of these traditions before we married, has given me the greatest Christmas gift I could ever want by embracing them as her own and helping to pass them on to our children.
Maybe one day we’ll try the traditional 12-course Polish Christmas Eve meal known as Wigilia – but not until our little helpers are big enough to pitch in on the preparations.
Wesołych świąt!
Email George P. Matysek Jr. at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org
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