Though everyone thinks their family is odd, mine was definitely unique, at least in my neighborhood. Both my parents are only children, which made holiday celebrations a little somber since there were no siblings or cousins to play with or share the scrutiny of my grandparents’ expectations.

Plus, my mother is French and my father is Polish, which, in those days (the early 60s) was quite a bone of contention with both sides.  It was true love (43 years and counting), so they decided to allow their “crazy” kids to get hitched, but none of them were ever truly happy about it.

The fact that my parents had four kids in 6 years alleviated a little of the enmity and focused their parents' attention on us.

Being a male-dominated world back then, we always went to my Polish grandparents house for Christmas Eve.  It was all adults. My siblings and I were the only kids. Since we spent every day of our lives together, we were uninterested and incapable of entertaining each other. We were also expected to behave like little ladies and gentlemen. Not hard since there wasn’t much to play with at my grandparents house. My French grandmother bitched about it every year and often threatened not to attend – even though she couldn’t cook and had no room to host an event.

My Polish Grandma was quite a cook, at least of Polish food, and a wonderful baker. The menu was always the same: breaded fish (picked up fresh from the market), handmade pierogi (cabbage and potato & cheese), Strawberry-Banana Jello salad, borsht and herring in sour cream (something only my dad and grandfather ate). Dessert was her amazing blueberry cheesecake.

In those days, meat wasn’t allowed to be eaten on Catholic holy days, so for someone who loathed fish – me – Christmas Eve was slim pickings.  Thankfully, I was saved by the pierogi. Soft dough, filled with mashed potatoes and cheese, bathing in melted butter.  What’s not to love? Even though they had onions in them – another food I hated -- I ate them by the pound. 

Now that I live on the West Coast, away from my family, and all my grandparents are gone, every Christmas Eve I think fondly of those boring, adult ones filled with special flavors. Especially as I cut into my pierogi. 


Strawberry-Banana Jello Salad
Unfortunately, I never learned how to make pierogi, but I did find this recipe. I don’t know where my grandmother got it, but it wasn’t a holiday without it.

6 oz. strawberry Jello
2 cups boiling water
1 cup cold water
Small package frozen strawberries
3 ripe bananas, cut into 1/4-1/2 slices
1 pint sour cream

Mix Jello through strawberries together. Pour 1/2 mixture into pan and chill until set.

Spread sour cream to cover. Then lay sliced bananas on top.

Slowly pour rest of strawberry mixture over the top. Chill until set. Slice into square sections, however big you want, and serve.

Lisa Dinsmore is an amateur writer, web programmer and wine lover. She has been wine tasting throughout California for the last decade, is currently working her way up to receiving her diploma from the Wine & Spirits Education Trust and has her own wine website, The Daily Wine Dispatch.  
 

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