Christmas Eve in Minnesota

Our family has always celebrated on Christmas Eve. I was recently asked if this was a Scandinavian tradition by my friend whose family comes from France. She said that their family always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Day. Another friend who is Norwegian said they also celebrate on Christmas Eve with their extended family so perhaps it is a Scandinavian tradition.

All of the family who were in the Twin Cities were here -- Norene and I, my eldest daughter Cheryl and her husband, her daughters Monika and her man, Katrina and her man and their 1 year old, my eldest son Bob and his wife and their granddaughter; my youngest son Randy and his wife, his eldest daughter Ryan who was expecting a baby the next day and her man, Randy's three sons Keith, Tyler and Rylie, and Riana; my youngest daughter Christine and her husband, her eldest daughter Joanna and her husband, her youngest daughter Justine, and her two sons Jared and Dylan. There were 26 of us in all. 

Missing were my eldest grandson Christopher who was celebrating in London this year; his brother Erick and wife who live in Las Vegas; my eldest granddaughter Germaine and her husband who live in Maryland; and her sister Suzanne and husband and five children who live in North Dakota. My brother Doug and his wife live in lower Wisconsin, and his son Dane also in Wisconsin, and his eldest son Andrew who lives in New York City, and we missed them as well. Doug often comes between Christmas and New Years, but this year most of his vacation days were used for his wonderful visit with relatives in Sweden.

We have a traditional Swedish sit-down Christmas Eve dinner late afternoon for those who still eat lutfisk. This year there were eight of us. We have lutfisk, Swedish meatballs, boiled potatoes, creamed gravy, rotmos, cranberries, saffron rolls, and then all the leftovers are set out for everybody else who comes between 7 and 8, some after church, some after visiting other relatives. Norene, Bob and I made the potato sausage several weeks before Christmas, and Norene makes gravad lax, the saffron rolls, all different kinds of Christmas cookies and fruit cake, my youngest daughter makes lefse, and we also have crackers, pickled herring, and several kinds of cheeses. All of my children and some of their spouses eat lutfisk, along with a few of the younger ones. Those who have married into the family always try the lutfisk and several have looked forward to it the next year. This year, we cooked 12 pounds of lutfisk, 4 pounds of Swedish meatballs and 5 pounds of potato sausage -- we had some leftovers, but not many! 

The nice thing about the Christmas Eve traditional meal -- I don't have to decide on the menu. It's always exactly the same. Some of the Swedes I've talked to from Sweden no longer have the traditional meal.  I've had the same Christmas Eve meal since I was a baby, and my children and grandchildren have grown up with the same tradition as well. Perhaps that's because Norene and I had both a Swedish mother and a Swedish father.

Now they have a tradition that goes back to the 1960's. At 3:00 almost everyone in Sweden watches Mickey Mouse! Norene tells me that watching Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck talking Swedish was fun to watch.  

For the past few years I have gathered together presents during the year and they are wrapped and [it all together. Each person must open a gift, decide who it is for, and then deliver it -- that person must then open the next gift and do the same thing until everyone has had a present. We used to open these presents and then exchange them with somebody else if we wanted to, but this way has been more fun.

Then we open presents that we have specified for each other. It's probably the only time that all of the family gets together at one time during the year! 

We end the evening with Rice Pudding with Lingonberries and one almond -- this is quite a production -- first my daughter spoons out the rice pudding, so she knows where the almond is. Then two of the granddaughters come and take the bowls of rice pudding to pass out so nobody knows where the almond is. The one who gets the almond will have good luck for the next year and a gift -- this year my granddaughter Monika took home the Christmas Quilt. 

This year we received an additional Christmas present on Christmas day -- Ryan delivered my 8th great-grandchild, this time a boy. I wonder if they will celebrate his half-birthdays instead of combining his birthday with Christmas Day!

Liam

Hope you all had wonderful Christmas gatherings with family and friends!