A Polish Tradition with an Aussie Twist

On Saturday, we participated in a family tradition that is at least four generations old. Our Polish side of the family makes potica (a sweet nut bread) at Christmastime every year. Some of my earliest memories of my grandma are “helping” her make potica. My favorite thing was always “spanking” the dough as it raised.

For all of my growing up years, the potica was made at my grandma’s house. The year of Ryan’s first Christmas, we made the potica at my house. In fact, it was on potica day that Ryan first crawled! My mom and aunt often take turns making it at each other’s homes. This year we also spent a day making potica at Marc & Frances’ house. Frances’ mom and sisters came to help.
Frances’ sister, Lauren, had just returned home after several months in Australia. We had a great time hearing about all of her adventures. As all of the women talked in the kitchen, I could picture a bunch of Polish women working and chatting about things happening in their lives.

It was fun to introduce potica to a new generation of Polocks. :)Since Rara, Frances, Janae, Lauren, and Janell were doing most of the work in the kitchen (and Marc ran several errands he needed to take care of), Ryan and I tended Alice & Claire all day. We had so much fun with them. They are getting so smart, and can say so many words (and animal sounds!).Rara gives the grandkids ornaments every year. Claire enjoyed opening hers while Alice was taking her nap. Once Alice woke up, we helped her open hers.After lunch, we had a special treat from Lauren. I had heard about Tim Tams, and asked her to bring some home. She did even better than that! She brought two packages of Tim Tams (one milk chocolate, one white chocolate), and also a drink that is very popular in Australia, which is kind of like hot chocolate (I can’t remember the name). She taught us the fine art of “Tim Tam Slams.” MMMMmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!It was such a fun day, filled with both old and new family traditions. Frances also posted a wonderful account of the day on her blog. Check it out here.