Non-traditional traditions

I spent the afternoon today baking with my mother. Christmas is only four weeks away and time will be more at a premium the closer we get to December 24th. There was no better time than this afternoon to bake the traditional piernik. It is always baked early, wrapped well and frozen or refrigerated until it makes it's debut on Christmas Eve.We planned on baking two and cutting each into three portions, yielding enough for ourselves and several to give away as gifts.
The decision was made to start just after lunch and I came prepared with a couple of extra bowls, spatulas and a fresh box of baking powder. The recipe was laid out prominently and all the ingredients stood pre-measured and at the ready the moment I walked in. I rolled up my sleeves and as my mother tied an apron around my waist I envisioned generations of women in our Polish family mixing the same ingredients and participating in the sacred piernik ritual. As I took a better look at the yellowed recipe scotch taped to a page of a loose leaf binder I remarked at it's obvious age and asked where it had been cut out from.
"Oh I don't really remember," my mother said, "one of those Polish woman's magazines I suppose."
I must have looked stricken. "Do you mean this is not the recipe my babcia made at Christmas," I asked.
"Oh my goodness no," she said. "Have you seen how long and complicated those recipes look? It would take days and I just don't have the time or patience for all that fussing. Your grandmother did not have an electric mixer, does that mean I should stir the batter by hand too?"
"Well, is this the recipe you've been making since you started to bake it," I asked.
" I don't remember," she said again. "I tried it this way and that, but I finally settled on this recipe because it's so simple and always turns out well."
I leaned over the binder again and deciphered the name at the top. Jewish Honey Cake it said. I had to sit down.
"What about the Greek Fish we eat on Christmas Eve," I asked, "and the red borscht?"
"Hmm, I do remember that lovely couple I met when we first came to Canada,' she said, 'I don't remember their name right now, but she served this wonderful fish one day and I asked for the recipe. I have made it for Christmas ever since then,' she said. 'And, the borscht, I always add the pickled plums and red wine. My mother didn't do that, but I think it tastes better that way.'
I returned to the counter and added all the ingredients in the order prescribed in the recipe for Jewish Honey Cake from a 1980's magazine published in Polish by a Toronto publisher. I put the batter in the oven and drank coffee with my 83 year old mother as we waited for the traditional Polish Christmas cake to finish baking.Here's a look at a Polish woman making a traditional piernik. You may not understand her but you will get the idea. If you'd like a really simple version that always turns out well, let me know.