Staff photo /R. Michael Semple Margaret Rosen, 92, talks about her family’s Christmas Eve gatherings that include her seven children and their spouses, 17 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. If it’s safe enough to do so, all 43 plan to have a Christmas in July celebration July 25 at Rosen’s home. Pizzelles will be involved.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of a series of Saturday profiles of area residents and their stories. To suggest a profile, contact features editor Burton Cole at bcole@tribtoday.com or metro editor Marly Reichert at mkosinski@tribtoday.com.
STRUTHERS — Margaret Rosen may have had decades of practice in preparing her brand of pizzelles for family members, friends, neighbors and others, but it’s a safe bet that her real legacy is found in a loving tradition she helped cultivate and carry on.
“We eat first and we eat downstairs. Then we sing,” Rosen, 92, said in describing the first leg of a beloved Christmas Eve tradition she and her late husband, Carl, began at their modest Cape Cod home for a family that has grown to 43 members.
“They all come — rain, snow, shine or slippery ice, whatever it takes,” she added.
Those who attend the annual funfests are Rosen’s seven children and their spouses, 17 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
Because of the ongoing health pandemic, however, the family was unable to meet at Rosen’s home in December. Instead, her son Robert Rosen of Cuyahoga Falls did the next best thing by making a 45-minute video that begins with snapshots of Margaret Rosen’s seven children in the 1960s, soon after the tradition had started. The footage then jumps to last month’s virtual interludes of individual family members who submitted clips in which they share thoughts and memories with one another.
Rosen moved to the Mahoning Valley in 1951 from Manchester, N.H., and shortly after married Carl, whose family knew Rosen’s mother’s family. After high school, she worked as a telephone operator, Rosen said, adding she learned to make pizzelles from a neighbor.
When everyone is ensconced in her home, Rosen prepares the pizzelles with a device similar to a small waffle iron. The thin Italian waffle cookies are commonly made from flour, eggs, sugar, butter, vegetable oil and flavoring, and can me molded into a variety of shapes and textures.
Regardless of their characteristics, her pizzelles are a highly enjoyable part of the holiday tradition, Rosen continued.
Nevertheless, it’s the delicacy of love that is perhaps the most endearing aspect of Rosen’s connections with family.
“She means everything to me, and she means everything to my family,” said granddaughter Katie Balestra, a federal employee who lives in Falls Church, Va., and has three sons — one who is 6, and twin 9-year-olds. “When you’re with her, all of your problems melt away. She’s 100 percent unconditional love.”
Rosen has developed a special bond with her grandchildren, partly by attending their sporting events and other activities. She also came to help Balestra care for her twins, she added.
Specifically, the strict evening tradition begins with everyone having a meal of pizzelles, chicken salad, wedding soup and three staples before the family reassembles in the small living room to sing Christmas carols. The children then hold one another’s hands and dance, Balestra explained.
“We joke around because nobody can remember the words to ‘Frosty the Snowman,'” she said with laughter. “So we end up at some point humming the song.”
Afterward, Rosen cuts plastic foam balls to create personalized ornaments outlined in sequins, each of which also contains a baby photograph of a specific child for that child. Then each one walks individually to the Christmas tree to hang the ornaments, Balestra continued.
Every year, Rosen also selects certain family members to perform individual holiday-related tasks. Those include placing a replica of the baby Jesus Christ in a manger, lighting a candle and saying a prayer before the family sings the popular tune “O Come All Ye Faithful,” says a series of Catholic prayers and sings “Happy Birthday” to Christ.
After that, the entire family liberally spreads the love, as each member literally hugs and wishes a merry Christmas to the other 42.
“It takes quite a bit of time. It’s the favorite part of the night for most,” Balestra said, adding that the festivities also include a toast to Carl Rosen.
Don’t think, however, that Rosen becomes anything close to idle after the holidays end. Throughout the year, she buys ornaments and tries to tailor them to reflect the recipients’ interests. For example, one family member who plays the violin will receive an ornament with a picture of the stringed instrument, Balestra explained.
In recent years, one of Balestra’s aunts raised the fun level several notches by dressing as an elf and running through the front yard, she said.
Rather than causing the huge and loving family to scrap the long-held traditions, the pandemic has given everyone an opportunity to reinvent things a bit this year. If it’s safe enough to do so, all 43 plan to have a Christmas in July celebration July 25 at Rosen’s home, Balestra added.
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