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! 

Dalarna, Sweden -- from the land of our forefathers

Cathy shared this photo that arrived on her desktop this morning.

"Brought to you by Long Zheng at www.istartedsomething.com

Images are copyright to their respective owners. Bing is a (funny) trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Some icons are by The Noun Project (Creative Commons)."

I must admit, it does look like "home" to me. No wonder those Swedes came to Northern Wisconsin, Northern Minnesota and Upper Michigan!

Thank you Cathy for sharing this with us! This is a truly beautiful photo.

Sending big hugs to all, and hope all have a wonderfully Happy New Year!

Just Some Family News

I wrote to Jay and Betty that I was doing much better because of pool therapy, and had a wonderful telephone call from Jay yesterday.

Jay too is having pool therapy, and he was down to see Madilene recently and she walks in a pool three times a week as well. Jay loves it as do I -- when we had our reunion, I was in the pool every morning for over an hour and discovered that I felt so much better for the rest of the day. On the two weekdays, first thing in the morning there were two physical therapists with clients in the pool at the motel -- probably the only heated pool in Iron River.

I came back and asked for a referral for pool therapy from my doctor and was able to get 7 weeks of pool therapy. Then Riana and I became volunteers at Courage Center here in the cities, so we've been in the heated pool each week. We work with people who live in group homes and have disabilities of one sort or another. Riana has enjoyed it so much, we will be doing two sessions a week after the first of the year.

In 2013, I will have a Silver Sneakers membership, and will be in the pool at least 4 times a week and I am looking forward to it.

Jay said that overall they are all doing well. They celebrated Christmas early because Jason has to work over the Christmas holidays and his whole family was together, including Marlin. Marlin was with them for several days and he is doing well too. Marlin is still hunting, and doing all the things that he loves to do. All the men are still playing in cribbage tournaments. Not too long ago, Jay and Terry won first prize.

It's so nice to get family news when we are all so far apart. Years ago, our families were writing "round robin" letters so everybody could keep up with each other. If you would like to share family news, I'm sure we would all be happy. Have a great day!

God Jul! A Swedish Merry Christmas

I found some old Christmas Cards in some papers of Aunt Nancy's, and some of these were illustrated by Carl Larsson prints.

Carl Larsson lived from 1853-1919, and painted happy family life scenes. He is among the best known Swedish artists. Carl Larsson and his family lived in Dalarna, the same part of Sweden as Andrew and Margareta Tagstrom Lundwall, our great-grandparents -- and near the homes of my mother's relatives as well!

Enjoy!

Santa Lucia Morning

Christmas Eve

Waiting for Christmas

 Left side of Christmas Morning

 Right side of Christmas Morning

And Santa comes to town!

On Monday night, Riana was one of Santa's elves wrapping presents for the youngest Courage Center clients. There were 72 little ones there last night for their annual Christmas party. One of the other volunteers said something in Swedish, and Riana perked right up and asked her in Swedish if she could speak Swedish -- she had found another person to practice on!

Last night, after all the little ones had their pictures taken with Santa and they had all received their presents, even some of the volunteers got to sit on Santa's lap.

May your Christmas be filled with the joy and happiness of children!

After a snowstorm -- plow-girl in training!

We had 13 inches of snowfall on Sunday, and our neighbor has been plowing out the neighborhood -- but didn't get to his whole driveway completely cleared off. Today the temperature was in the 40's, but we are supposed to get another storm this weekend and Terry's driveway needed cleanup.

Terry is Riana's "adopted" Grandpa, and he has taught her many things over the years since Jerry's been gone -- how to ride a bike, how to roller skate, how to make a birdhouse, how to do so many things, and he is incredibly patient  and helpful -- if her bike tires need air, or the seat needs tightening, or most any other problem -- Riana knows where she can get help!  

Riana was promised that this year she can learn how to help him plow, and I must admit she does a pretty good job!

Enjoy.

Terry stayed very close. 

Backing up is tough -- but sticking out the tongue helps.

f

Lucia Day at Gammelgarden

The celebration of Lucia in Sweden brings light to the very dark days of December. It marks the beginning of the Swedish Christmas season. Lucia, a 3rd century Christian living in Italy, was grateful that her mother's health was restored and in thankfulness Lucia spent her dowry money to feed the poor. Her fiancé' denounced her to the authorities and she was burned at the stake on December 13. Her story traveled to Sweden with Christian missionaries. Her example is celebrated in household and community settings with a young girl in white (purity) with a red sash (martyrdom) and a crown of candles (light) on her head bringing coffee and saffron buns to family members in the pre-dawn hours. Since 1927, the Stockholm Lucia is crowned at the palace and serves coffee to the Nobel prize winners, who are also bringing light to the world in the way of knowledge.

Gammelgården Museum's Lucia Celebration:

GammelKyrkan in the summer

Here in Minnesota, we began our Jul season with the celebration of Lucia as we followed the candles in the snow lighting the way to the GammelKyrkan (old church) for an early morning prayer service, all in Swedish. 

This morning, we were in the middle of a snowstorm, with perhaps 6" of snow already on the ground and lots more to come through the day.

We dressed warmly as the church is the oldest Lutheran Church in Minnesota, built in 1856, with no heat or electricity. and candle-lit, with candles at the front of the church, on wreaths hanging from the ceiling, candles in each window, and each person holding their own candle in a hand-held holder.

As each person entered this morning, a burst of cold air with snow also entered the church. Looking out the windows, snow was gently falling and blowing, a beautiful sight in this quiet rural setting.

This church service was followed by a Lucia Fest Breakfast smörgåsbord at the Scandia Community Center. The Minneapolis Svensgarnas Dag Girls Choir sang honoring Lucia and her ministry of bringing light into darkness. Gammelgården's large exhibit of Lucia artifacts was also on display at the Välkommen Hus (the Gammelgården Welcome House). Lucia Dagen is both a family and community tradition in Sweden, and celebrated each year in homes and in the schools each December 13th.

This year Riana was Lucia.

Although we didn't get good photos this morning, following are photos of Riana several years ago at one of our family Lucia celebrations.

Norene bakes the wonderful saffron rolls for our family celebrations (which were missing at the Gammelgarden breakfast -- the rolls at Gammelgården were in the shape of traditional saffron rolls, but plain sweet rolls with craisins instead of raisins. 

And on Thursday, December 13th, the official Swedish Jul (Christmas) begins! 

Here's wishing all of you a Joyous Christmas Season!