The LuLc Edition #4,188, December 24th, 2019

CHRISTMAS EVE AT 83 CLIFF STREET

When I was growing up, Christmas Eve was a bigger deal to my family than Christmas Day. As a matter of fact, it still is! Maybe it’s the anticipation vs. the aftermath. But Christmas Eve was when all the Yonki brothers and sister gathered for the traditional Christmas Eve supper. Now we were Slovak Americans so the menu consisted of a red kidney beans soup, fish, Pierogies, Sauerkraut and peas, Barley and honey, a pagach (or cabbage pie) and White House Ice Cream from Grablick’s for desert with Christmas cookies. 
The adults were in the dining room and the kids sat in the kitchen. My cousins and I sat in that kitchen well into our adulthood. With the exception of my sister Sandra and my cousin Barbara, my Uncle Joseph (Zeke) and grandmother had passed away and were only known to the adults gathered when we were kids.
My dad Stephen (Jake) and his brothers Paul (Philco) John (Percy) and Mike (Dealer) sat with my grandfather. (My God those nicknames those Yonki brothers had were legendary in The Junction section of Pittston!) My aunts, Anna an ILGWU union member (who put on this culinary extravaganza) and her sister Mary a RN rounded out the guest list. We were joined later by Mary’s boyfriend Al who brought incredible gifts for us requiring the biggest batteries known to man.  Al and Mary dated for over 60 years because God forbid back then a Roman Catholic could never marry a Polish National Catholic.
There was great food, much love and traditional Slovak songs and prayers sung and said. It was a time that I will always cherish.
This September my Aunt Mary, the last surviving Yonki sibling died at the age of 95. The Yonki brothers and sisters were reunited. Last week, my cousin Paula Rostock and I had a conversation about those times. She said “They’re all up in heaven sitting around a big table again with their parents”. And I added, “Yes and with Grandpa saying, “ Vianoce každý deň” which meant living in America for him was “Christmas every day”.
I have no doubt that in the great beyond, the cousins, Sandra Yonkl Barnett, Barbara Yonki Onley, Paula Yonki Rostock, Deborah Yonki Guarnari, my cousin Robert and I were once more the center of attention as we were as kids.
My hope and prayer is that we have made Christmas as special with our families and friends as they did  for us. I know that the reason we keep Christmas Eve so close to our hearts is because of this family rooted in faith and decency. I also hope that we became even half the men and women that they were.

Here they are long before any of us were even in a twinkle in their eye, from left, row one, Mary and Mike,
Second row, my grandmother Mary, my grandfather John Charles, my Uncle Paul and Aunt Anna.
Third row, my father Stephen, and brothers John and Joseph.