North on Pulaski, East on Chicago

To Taddeo Cousins We Go.

It happens every year at Christmastime. While listening to Karen Carpenter sing "I'll be home for Christmas," I drift off into a kaleidoscope of past holiday memories.

By the time she sings "Christmas Eve will find me . . ."

I'm 11 years old looking out the living room window while my father prepares the car for our family trip to the North Side.

There we'll celebrate the Feast of Seven Fishes with Uncle Pete and Aunt Antoinette and their family.

I watch as the white smoke curls out of the exhaust pipe from our 1947 Plymouth parked at the curb.

While the heater warms up the inside of the vehicle, Daddy scrapes the snow off the windshield.

Then with a wave of his hand, he signals that our four-door sedan is ready to go.

I call out to the rest of the family that Daddy says it's time to put on our coats.

By the third week in December, my brother John and I were used to bundling up for sub-freezing temperatures.

On special occasions, like this Christmas Eve, Nonna Providenza and Mom preferred to wrap themselves in their warm fur coats.

Daddy locked the front door while my brother and I and walked down the newly shoveled front steps.

"Get in quick before you let all the heat out," Daddy said as Johnny climbed into the back seat next to Grandma and I scooted in up front next to my mother.

Though less than 10 miles from our house on the South Side to the Taddeo's house on the Chicago Avenue, the falling snow and freezing slush on the roads could make driving treacherous.

Daddy made his way cautiously along Pulaski Road, with windshield wipers moving in sync with the falling snow and defrosters blowing a steady stream of warm air against the cold windshield.

"Turn on the radio, Mary" my father said. "It'll take your mind off the road."

Mom tuned the radio up and down the dial until she reached WMAQ.

Gene Autry was singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." "Stop there, Mom," I said.

Rudolph, one of our favorite Christmas characters, was the promotional mascot of Montgomery Ward where our cousin Angie Taddeo worked part time during the holidays.

Next "Silent night, holy night" played through the chrome grill of our car radio. Mom started singing along in her beautiful soprano voice.

Johnny joined her in his yetunchanged seven-year-old tenor and I harmonized the alto part.

Singing along with the Christmas carols on the radio took my mind off getting carsick and made time pass quickly.

Just as the garland-wrapped streetlights went on, Daddy turned from the busy commercial traffic of Pulaski Road to the attractively decorated small business storefronts along Chicago Avenue.

Like panels in a movie, the hustle and bustle of Christmas Eve was playing out before us.

Men and women who had to work all day stood at the corners watching impatiently for the next streetcar to take them home.

Last minute shoppers sat on benches holding onto bags bulging with gifts.

As we passed tree lots, families searched for just the right Christmas tree. And, stationed at the corner of busy intersections, Salvation Army volunteers shook their bells vigorously to keep their hands warm and encourage passerby's to put donations into their red pails just one more time.

In less than an hour, Daddy pulled our car in front of the Church and Chapel Works and parked.

Upstairs in their second floor apartment where they lived over their manufacturing business, Uncle Pete, Aunt Antoinette, cousins Angie, Annie, Olga and Charlie were waiting for our family to help them celebrate yet another Christmas Eve together.

None of us knew it at the time, but this would be the last time both families would share the Italian custom of the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

Look for more in the next column.

Cousin Annie's Pesto and Fettuccini

1 clove garlic
1 cup basil, tightly packed
1 / 4 cup grated Parmesan
1 / 4 cup salt free vegetable broth
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 / 8 teaspoon chopped walnuts, toasted

1 pound fettuccine

Blend garlic in blender to chopped consistency. Add basil, cheese, broth, oil, salt, walnuts and mix. Blend for ten minutes and set aside.

Prepare pasta to al dente.

Combine pesto with cooked pasta in a large bowl and toss well.

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Antoinette Jackson is a Bullard-area resident. You may reach her at Antojxn@aol.com.