The End of a Tradition.

CBC news reported on Dec. 14, 2023 that the Mars candy company had discontinued selling the Life Saver Fun Book in Canada. Even though I have not bought them for a few years now I remember the joy of receiving them every year from my aunt and uncle in Sudbury. They unfailingly sent a wrapped gift for each of us and a Life Saver Fun Book for all to fight over. Five Flavors was tops followed by Cola and Butter Rum because they sounded forbidden. Then the sweet tooth flavours of Butter Scotch, Wild Cherry and several varieties of mint. Last to go were the seemingly healthy choices like Orange and Lemon. An ad from a 1941 Saturday Evening Post shows the book with twelve rolls selling for 49 cents. You can still buy them from the States on Amazon at a 100-time inflation rate or $51.14 for twelve rolls.

This caused me to reflect on the some of the happy times when Christmas was the biggest day of the year.

My earliest memories go back to life on the farm in Bradlo in the late 1940s. The older boys brought in a tree from the unlimited supply in our bush which we all helped to decorate.

Our Christmas picture in our Sunday finest reflected the times. We didn't have much but every gift was special. I remember a tin bus that was my pride and joy until some drunken visitor fell on it and flattened it. I was heartbroken and the drunk just got up and partied on.

Church service involved driving to the Zion United Church in Stavert where we marvelled at the off-key singing of the church women who seemed to compete with each other for volume. I was usually picked to pass the collection plate and still remember the treasure of silver dollars and 50-cent pieces that I collected and regretfully had to turn over to the minister.

The house was filled with the aroma of baking as my mother prepared her poppy seed (makovnik) and walnut rolls (orechovnik). We had all helped to grind the poppy seed and walnuts in what I now know was a coffee grinder. I still have it.

My mother had her own traditional Slovak recipe that was unbeatable. Our Norwegian neighbour, Mrs. Franson, made delightful sweet buns and my mother borrowed some ideas from her to make a sweet pastry for her rolls. I have been searching ever since for poppy seed rolls but none compare. My wife tried to learn the secret from her but she had no written recipe. It was all by feel. My wife was dutifully following along and writing down the recipe. You start with some flour and add two eggs and water and mix it by hand, then add more flour and water and another egg and keep mixing and adding ingredients until it feels right. She has been able to create a pretty good version but my oldest sister Olga came the closest to Mom's perfection.

Olga always did her best to ensure we all had something under the tree. She would tell us Christmas stories and lead us in carol singing, even taking the show on the road as we delivered Mom's special baking to the bachelors living along Bradlo Road. It is no surprise that she became a teacher.

My father greeted visitors with a shot of brandy in place of the Slivovice from back home in Slovakia. I later found out that his liqueur glasses were actually egg cups. If you have ever tried Slivovice you will appreciate that the egg cups only held about a half an ounce.

We gathered around the table using every available seat in the house. A traditional Slovak dish to start the Christmas dinner was Bobalki, which was made of small buns, drenched in boiling water to soften them and sprinkled with sugar and poppy seeds.

My mother dropped most of her old-world traditions over the years but she always served Bobalki at Christmas. It was like starting the meal with des­sert so I always looked forward to it. She also started the meal with a long Slovak blessing.

When my sister Anne married another Slovak, John Siska, his mother and my mother would have dueling blessings before our Christmas dinners. They seemed to compete for the longest blessing while we were all waiting for the meal to start.

I learned about some of these Slovak traditions later when attending a Christmas feast at the Slovak Embassy in Ottawa. An extra plate would be set in case someone dropped in who had no place to go. Walnuts were broken open to check on your luck for the next year. If the walnut was black, you could expect bad luck. The host would throw walnuts into the four corners of the room to ensure an abundance of food for the following year. The traditional Christ­mas meal was carp or fish. We have enjoyed arctic char or salmon on occasion.

While traditions may end, memories can last forever.

I still have the poppy seed grinder, some of the old Christmas tree ornaments and a descendant of my mother's Christmas cactus that has been dutifully blooming at our house for more than 40 years.

Merry Christmas to all and Good Health in 2024.