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| Christmas card received from brother Rudolph and his wife Hattie Polasek. |
January 1, 2014
Happy New Year to All!
May your 2014 be bright and filled with fun, food, love and great family relationships!
How my Grandparents the Polasek’s
Celebrated Christmas in the Wild and Wooly
Town of Dallas: Their Daughters Remember
My cousins
gathered three of the four daughters born to Joe and Louise Polasek at their
house back in 1986. Their job: to record for posterity what it is was like
growing up in the Polasek household! From
all the conversations that flowed so freely, it was quite easy to surmise that
my Mother and my aunts’ young lives had been filled with a lot of love but
Christmas was by far the best and most memorable time of the year! Since then I have been collecting recipes and
stories from each family to fill in a few more blanks in the Polasek family
past!
Grandma Louise
and her sister Rose left Ennis to live and work at St. Paul’s Hospital after their father’s
death in 1921. Grandpa Joe and his
brother Frank had moved from Corn Hill to Dallas,
Texas by 1917 per his WWI draft
card. The two met in Dallas and got married in September 1926 with
Mother being born in July the next year.
By 1930, they were living in a duplex along with brother Frank, wife
Frances, and daughter Bettye at 704
Fletcher Street.
Joseph Polasek’s Employment
Through the use
of online Dallas, Texas Directories, Grandpa’s places of
employment given by his children have been confirmed. In the 1923 and 1927
Directories, the two brothers were employed as “meat cutters” and “sausage
makers” at Samuel Engleberg’s establishment.
Grandpa also worked from 1928 – 1931 at the Dallas Steel and Iron Works
with his Czech friend. It was there he
learned to create furniture and accessories made out of iron which included
such items as a table, lamp, tea cart with large wheels, and glass topped
breakfast room table. During the years
1932 – 1934, he started working as a mechanic fixing automobiles with another friend
Moody Bell who had a service station and garage on East Grand. From 1938 – 1959, he owned and operated his
own garage, known as Joe’s Garage, for many years in downtown Dallas. Aunt Pat recalled that these were
very “good years” for the whole family.
The Enjoyment of the Fall Seasons
One greatly
anticipated highlight of the year was the fall excursions to watch the leaves
falling with their seasonal colors at White Rock Lake at Dallas, Texas. This family event usually took place in the
company of Uncle Frank and Frances Polasek with their children Bettye and
Dorothy Jean. Once a year without fail,
the entire family went on their annual pecan hunting trip. With everyone’s eager participation enough pecans
would be gathered for the baking to be done all year but especially at
Christmas. The couple truly loved
feeding family, friends and neighbors and enjoyed having a good time.
Food Was Always a Passion
Grandpa Polasek
was very funny and would keep people well entertained with his stories. He never raised his voice but he could just
look at you in that certain way to relate quite plainly that you were in trouble. He always appeared happy and content with
his life. When did he feel the
happiest? You guessed it … every year when
putting up the three Christmas trees! In
fact, Grandpa Polasek was known to “whistle up a storm” repeatedly but
especially when he trimmed the two big trees on the front lawn at his home at 601 Peak Street.
Both loved to
cook and were known for their culinary talents amongst family, friends, and
neighbors! Grandma Louise loved making
sweet things. All the pies, cookies,
kolaches, donuts, candies, strudels, and cakes came from her handiwork. She even made “white lace” cookies (no recipe
found yet!) which she would sell to her neighbors to make extra money. She always used the pecans that the family
had gathered in the fall to make her tasty pecan pies and dreamy nut-filled
cakes and cookies as well. In December
many of these cookies and candies where employed as Christmas ornaments and
garland for the tree and mantle.
I know that all
four daughters love “sweets” too as the dessert making continued in their
own households even after marriage. Starting
in November my little Mother would start her own Christmas baking, making at
least 10 to 15 different cookies recipes and 3 or more pies including rum,
pumpkin, cherry cheese and her own version of pecan! (You can imagine all my
siblings adore sweet Christmas treats too…..so the tradition continues!)
Grandpa Joe was
the master of meat but especially for
beef and pork BBQ! And now I know that
he got started back in the 1920’s while working as a meat cutter and sausage
maker at Engelberg’s! He built his own
specialized cooker in his backyard where he would BBQ any type of food. All year, but especially at Christmas time,
many of his family and neighbors would bring him their roast beefs and /or
other meats to happily grill to utter perfection. Everyone always told him he should open up
his own restaurant as everything he cooked were so amazing! It really is too bad that he did not.
Keeping Alive Family Christmas
Traditions:
Christmas Trees and Village
Christmas Eve
was always a big time of festivity and included many traditional celebrations
taking place on December 24! In the Polasek household, a small village composed
of paper houses and little miniature evergreen trees materialized upon the
buffet, a custom still carried on by my parents and even now in my own
household. I am the current “master builder” with half my attic full of houses,
trees, lights, and literally over 1,000 little people and animals with which to
populate it. (Building a village is one family custom I plan to continue in the
future!)
In my
Grandparents house, three Christmas trees
would have been purchased from the local neighborhood business selling trees:
two for the front yard as previously mentioned and one for the inside! Every
year Grandpa Polasek picked the most enormous one he could find because its’
top always had to touch the dining room’s ceiling. The Christmas tree was
certainly the main focal point of the Christmas decorations: always beautiful
to behold and a treasure for family and friends to enjoy!
This evergreen
giant would then be decked with both store bought items such as beautiful glass
ornaments as well as with plenty of homemade decorations including yards and
yards of edible garland. Grandpa would
always put on the stings of Christmas lights with little decorated class bulb
covers first. (I still have two of these left!) Next would be the garland which several weeks
beforehand the entire family made by taking a needle and strong thread to string
together all types of candies and fruits. Some of the favorite foods to use were:
popcorn, malted milk balls, gummy orange slices, gumdrops, blueberries, and
blackberries. After Christmas it was
always fun to eat the decorations!
Mass, Food, and Gifts
For Christmas Eve dinner there would be fried
catfish and ambrosia salad. I always
wondered why catfish was served. Now I
know that this was just part of a centuries old Czech tradition to not eat meat
on December 24 in observance of the Catholic holy day. Other vegetables filled out the menu with a cornucopia of Grandma’s sweet deserts to finish the meal.
Grandpa Joe and
Grandma Louise both loved giving lots of Christmas gifts to their
children. No matter what their financial
situation the rest of the year, presents flowed freely at Christmas! All of them would be opened on Christmas
Eve night after the meal and each token of affection would delight each recipient no
matter how large or small. All toys would be given on Christmas Eve to
the children not any on Christmas Day itself. And after all the presents received over many many years, my Mother’s best Christmas gift she ever was when she received a doll!
After all the
excitement of the presents, it was time to go celebrate the real reason for the
season, Jesus’ birth. The entire family
would attend either Midnight Mass at St. Edwards Catholic Church or an early
morning Mass on Christmas proper. After
Mass, everyone would return home and try to go to bed as quickly as possible in
anticipation of the arrival of Saint Nicholas …Santa Claus! If all the girls had been good the whole
year, on Christmas Morning their stockings would be filled with fruits and
nuts…no toys!
Christmas Day
would be spent having a meal with all their own family present and any neighbor
or friend who needed a place to go. The
meal was basically a traditional one for Texas
which included: turkey, bread dressing,
potatoes, other vegetables, kolaches, strudels, fruit, nuts, cookies, and pecan
pie. And so when the day finally ended,
everyone felt very well loved and full of the Christmas spirit. All the decorations would be stored away until
next year…………………………..when it would all start again!
Conclusion
I hope that you
have enjoyed this little trip back to the yesterday and to Christmas’
past! It is important to chronicle
people’s lives and stories to preserve our family history.
Best wishes and
great success to you and yours in 2014.
Love and Kisses,
Sharon
