Prochaska family Christmas celebrates traditions

Janell Bradley
Contributing Writer

It's all about tradition when Bill and Jan Prochaska's children come home to Fayette for Christmas.

For a couple of weeks prior to the arrival of Christmas Eve, Bill and Jan begin preparing for some of the favorite traditions of their children, Mike and Melissa, and planning for the most enjoyed activities of the grandchildren: Allyson, Ryne and Tanner Prochaska and Makenzie and Connor Spensley.

When Mike Prochaska married Sandra Ott and the couple later had their first child, Allyson, Bill and Jan knew they wanted to do something special for the grandchildren at Christmas. Daughter Melissa had been receiving the Hallmark Keepsake ornament "Frosty Friends" since the first year that series began. This year, Melissa knows she can expect the 35th in the series to be carefully wrapped for her and placed under the tree. Having started the ornament tradition with Melissa when she was a young girl, the Prochaskas decided to choose other series ornaments as their grandchildren were born.

There's "Puppy Love" for granddaughter Allyson, who got married this past summer and has enough ornaments from over the years to decorate a small tree as she receives the 24th in the series this year. Melissa's daughter, Makenzie, receives a Madame Alexander doll ornament for her collection.

Brothers Ryne and Tanner and their cousin Connor will receive sports figures, with Connor being gifted an Aaron Rodgers figure, Tanner getting Tom Brady, and baseball fan Ryne receiving Reggie Jackson.

With many of the local Hallmark stores having closed in recent years, Bill noted that shopping for the ornaments has become a little more difficult. In addition to shopping for the grandchildren, Bill and Jan began picking up a few Keepsake ornaments for themselves. They have several Santa collectibles and enjoy putting out Looney Tunes character ornaments on their own small tree.

Jan's interest in the cartoon figures came as a result of Melissa's work as manager of three Warner Bros. Art Galleries in Chicago. The Coe College art major enjoys her work at the galleries and knows the value of Keepsake ornaments and other art.

In addition to the gifted ornaments, Bill explained there are ornaments that have special meaning each year as they decorate the Prochaska family tree.

Each year Jan looks forward to taking the grandchildren to the Fayette County Conservation Board's tree farm the day after Thanksgiving to choose the perfect live tree.

Jan prefers her tree to have old-fashioned icicles while Bill's family didn't grow up with that tradition. To compromise, she keeps track in a book and the couple decorate with icicles every other year.

On the tree are the paper Santa Claus shapes made by Mike and Melissa when they were kindergartners in Nell Stephens' classes. There's a St. Nicholas that was Bill's mother's, so he figures it dates back to 1920 or so. There are also ornaments that date back to the era of WWII, as they hung on the Prochaska Christmas tree when Bill was a child growing up in Protivin.

Beyond the gift-giving that comes with Christmas, the traditional games that will be played Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are another aspect of the fun the Prochaskas look forward to.

Tradition calls for Bill to be the caller in bingo, and the group has to play until everyone has won a prize. The last couple of years, some of the prizes have been Iowa lottery tickets. Bill laughed when he said the rules allow each person to trade once. But his grandsons had to work out a compromise when the traded gift was a lottery ticket worth $40!

"Pass the Trash" is a popular card game, or sometimes the family plays dice games.

And when it comes to food, there's tradition there, too. Shrimp, meatballs and homemade soups will provide sustenance throughout the night of game-playing. On Christmas Day, it's turkey and all the trimmings for the noon meal. With one member of the family having celiac disease, Jan is careful to prepare almost everything so that it's gluten-free.

Beyond the celebration with family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the Fayette couple also love to entertain others. They host friends and former athletes from Bill's days coaching basketball at UIU, as well as their friends from the local community.

Folks close to them know they can expect Jan to make Bailey's Balls, a recipe she says originated with her daughter-in-law, Sandra. There will also be cream cheese and homemade hot pepper jelly and the popular cheese-salsa-sausage dip.

Their children's dogs aren't left out, either.

Dachsunds Sadie (Mike's) and Max (Melissa's) arrive with their respective families and will even find a gift for them under the Prochaska family tree. After all, traditions are for all members of the family!