For more on Serbian Christmas customs, see the article I published in Isthmus a few years ago.
I got off work around noon, then drove Don to work at Union Cab. Went home and got baking. Started the Bozhizhni Kolach (Christmas Bread, or cake). Picked up Gigi at four-thirty and we came home here to make the dough ornaments for the Kolach and make more treats besides.
The Kolach, just before the oven.
The Vititsa, or braid. For the girls.Michelle brought a bottle of vodka.
Little did she realize that for a
child of expatriated Serb immigrants who came to the U.S. after WWII,
the name "Tito" is forever identified with the long-time dictator of
Yugoslavia. Sure was good vodka, though.Before we got to work, we had some of Tito's handmade vodka with boysenberry sparkling water. Ulysses had his boysenberry straight up. Michelle got slatko, the customary Serb welcome treat of a spoonful of incredibly sweet stuff (plum jam + honey, in this case) chased by a glass of water. Then we had a meal of lefterover Xmas eve food (see Jan. 6 entry) to fortify us.
The kolach after baking. Note the grapes in the lower right: for the
family vineyard in the old country. The lumps are wine
barrels.Don fininshed driving around eight, and I picked him up while Gigi watched Ulysses. The four of us shared a lovely meal: Kolach, a roasted chicken stuffed with fresh rosemary and oregano sprigs and other herbs, and the last of the '99 dandelion wine, the first I ever made. Was saving for a special occasion. And this was it.
Ulysses with his first Buzdovan. Bread in the shape of a mallet, for the boys. 
Chesnitsa, a Serbian holiday bread, evolved into a dessert in my family. See my article published in Madison Magazine.
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