Christmas is right around the corner… by Suzanne Winslow

What is your favorite Christmas tradition? Wigilia (vi gil ya, though we pronounced it va lee ya) was one of my favorites when I was growing up. Wigilia is a traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner that my family modified more than a little, but still maintained its roots. I remember being excited the minute my sister and I piled into the backseat of the car to go to my grandparents’ house. They lived in Fulton, New York, where you could almost always guarantee freshly fallen snow and a traditional white Christmas. I can close my eyes now and see myself in the car: Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas" on the radio, the billboard on the side of the highway advertising a small Fulton motel, and my dad teasing my mom, a Fulton native, about the sign Welcome to Fulton, City With A Future.

If I could pick one moment of my life to relive, this thirty-minute drive with my family, everyone happy, healthy, and together, would be it.

But there was even more to come!

Eleven grandkids all gathered together on the biggest night of the year amounted to total chaos. Everyone expected it. My grandparents loved it. Their double-wide trailer could barely contain us so a sit-down dinner for twenty-one was out of the question. Dinner was served buffet-style: adults at the “big” table and kids at card tables. Most of the time, we didn’t bother with the card tables. We ate on the run. The food was authentic, even if most of our holiday would have been unrecognizable in Poland. My grandmother made trays and trays of kapusta, galumpkis (pigs in a blanket), and pierogies filled with cheese or sauerkraut. The scent of fresh pine, cooked kielbasa, and warm sugar filled the small house. It could be ten degrees outside and we would still have to crack a window to cool off inside. Polka music mixed with Christmas carols. Frosted cut-out sugar cookies fueled the excitement. Colored lights and silver tinsel sparkled on the tree.

I can still feel all of that magic now.

Wigilia continued in one form or another until after I married. By that time it had turned into an open house with more friends than family, but the spirit of the holiday remained. Even that’s come to an end now as more of us have moved away and married into families with different traditions. I try to buy homemade pierogies for Christmas Eve—I never learned how to make them the way Grandma did—and frosted cut out cookies, while not Polish, are a Christmas mainstay.

I’m sad Wigilia is in the past, but I’m happy I have the memories. This year I think I’ll make kielbasa and find those homemade pierogies to go with my cut out cookies. It’s been too long.

I wish you peace and joy this holiday season.

Merry Christmas,

Suzanne Winslow, Author of the Smoke and Fire series

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Suzanne Winslow writes the kind of stories she loves to read—contemporary romance with relatable characters, unsung heroes and heroines, and true-to-life stories. Nurses, teachers, firefighters, and Marines top her list of champions. Give her a book about strong, brave characters with hidden vulnerabilities and a secret passion, and she’ll binge read to the end!

Suzanne and her husband call Upstate New York home. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s often planning a road trip, or if it’s summertime, hanging out at the lake. Connecting with readers through Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and newsletters is a favorite pastime.

You can connect with her here. https://linktr.ee/suzannewinslowauthor