A snowy weekend.

We had plenty of snow this weekend...8 1/2 inches....and more expected tomorrow. And, we don't have a single thing on the calender that we have to out for. It will be so nice to just stay home. Jerry blew the driveway this afternoon and I filled the bird feeder and that was the extent of our outdoor travels! The feeder got empty on Saturday I think but the weather was so nasty I didn't want to go out. I have to climb a ladder to reach the feeder roof to open. No sooner was the roof down but all the birds were back. There were 4 Jays, Cardinals, Red Headed Woodpecker and Chickadees. When the feeder is empty they usually come to the deck as if to let us know they are hungry. They didn't this time because they were probably all hunkered down under some bushes trying to stay out of the snow also.
This afternoon I caught up on a couple days of newspaper reading and the Smithsonian magazine. A nice cup of tea and the lights on the Christmas tree and that was contentment!! I see so many trees have been taken down in the neighborhood. We leave our decorations up until Epiphany. Christmas starts on Christmas Day!!

Tonight we had "fresh" food for dinner. It was nice to have leftovers but enough is enough!!

Hope that tomorrow there will be time to do some sewing. That's a part of my life that I've missed the past couple weeks.

Christmas Eve Smörgåbord

We had our meal at 3:30 this year. As the family changes there is a need to accommodate. We were between naps and before a too late bedtime! The first course is the Herring/Fish Buffet. that includes salmon/cucumber sauce, sardines, smoked oysters, wine and creamed herring, buttered fingerling potatoes/dill, Jansson's Temptation(potatoes, onions, cream and anchovies..like a rich scalloped potatoes with anchovies..delish), stuffed herring rolls, cheeses, hardtack, lefse, limpa and cardamon bread.

The second course is the Cold Buffet. That consists of egg mold/caviar, spiced ham, potato salad(yogurt/mayo dressing/green olives, capers/curry), liver pâté, deviled eggs, pickled beets, relishes, raspberry jello, Swedish cuks(white vinegar, sugar and parsley).

Next comes the Hot Buffet. A clean plate is taken at each buffet. Everyone knows not to take too much at each buffet and not everyone takes everything. And some go back to a previous table to get something they really like. Here we have pork ribs, meatballs, swedish brown beans(cooked with cinnamon, brown sugar and vinegar) and red cabbage(vinnegar and spices).

Potato sausage and rotmos(mashed potatoes and rutabagas.

Hassekback potatoes, baked carrot mold and last but certainly not least is the lutefisk/cream sauce. The young folks all eat it. Soren and Anja even had seconds!

These courses take quite a while to eat. It is a time to eat and enjoy each other. We had a table in the dining room and one in the family room. After the dishes are clean and all the food put away it is time to open gifts. I wonder how many years it will be before the 3 little ones realize how it used to be with their parents....."hurry, hurry, do you have to do the dishes?"


It was great fun watching them open their gifts. Soren was the dispatcher and they did the delivering. As Marcos brought each package to his Mom to hold (that was his) he'd say," another one!" with such awe. He couldn't believe so many were for him. There were no fights over another kids gift with anyone and everyone waited their turn. It was wonderful! Marcos and Linnea got this hooded towels from Anja and wore them the rest of the evening.

And now to the last Buffet. We need sweets to balance all that spiced, pickled and fishy stuff!!

This is the Crown cake...the centerpiece at the dessert table.

I got photos of most of the cookies but missed the dishes to the right....ostkaka/lingonberries, créme caramel. fruit soup, and Michael made a favorite dessert of his Dutch G'ma.

All the furniture that Michael and Stephen moved for us the 23rd was returned to it's upstairs or downstairs regular spot. The dishes were washed and I've been sloooooooooly getting the dishes back where they belong and the toys in their rightful place. I don't have to cook for a few days, plenty of leftovers. Everyone gets to take home some of the food they brought plus some of the other food.

I can't believe that I'm going to be able to hit "publish". We're having internet problems again. It suddenly goes off and will be off a number of hours or overnight and then come back on and be just fine. Yesterday aft. while talking to Linda in AZ suddenly both our faces froze....oh, no there it goes again. About 2 this morning I got the photo of the creshe posted but it went off as I was going to post these.

On entering the place, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Matthew 2:11

My wish for you...my blogging friends....is that the wonder of Christmas touches your world in a special way today and the coming year.

Only one!!

All that snow and it was only enough to fill one tank!!

The plumber was here by 9 this morning. He had 3 other emergency water heaters to install today. Oh how nice it is to get water out of the faucet.

Things are all moved back into place. Tonight I got the floor tile relaid. A couple pieces don't lay as flat as they should but I'll deal with that after Christmas. The laundry seemed to go on forever today because of all the towels used to soak up water. Sometimes I think the cubbard is too crowded and we don't need so many towels. Ah, think they can just stay where they were, just in case........

I'm headin' to bed. Tomorrow it is back to working on my list of jobs for the family gathering Christmas Eve.

How many flushes can I get out of 2 5-gal. buckets of snow?

Some days sure don't turn out how they were planned. Jerry didn't feel well yesterday and still felt bad this morning so we decided not to go to church. Right after we decided that, Gregg called and said he would come to town and he and I could do the finishing shopping for our Smorgasbord. Later I went down to the furnace room to get something and saw all the water. Our water heater had sprung a leak and there was water all over. It had gone under the wall to the game room. Remember the carpet tile I laid last summer...it sure is getting a test....had to pull up 20 tiles. They are drying well so could get an A+ on the test. The trip here sure wasn't what Gregg expected. He took over. To top things off the shut-off valve is frozen at "open" so we can't have any water on in the house. We went to Lowe's and bought a new water heater. Does anyone ever buy a heater without it being an emergency? We brought it home and hopefully we can be on the schedule for installation tomorrow. Sorry this pic got sideways.

Now to my original question. I shoveled and packed hard 2 5-gal. buckets with snow. Then I melted one bucket of snow and poured into the other. This is all the water there is, slightly more than half a bucket. I'm hoping for 2 flushes!!!!! But, as you can see the water has to be strained even after the leaves have been picked out. When you think the snow looks so clean and white....think again and don't let the kids eat it.

After my venting I know this is minor compared to what so many people are going through tonight. We have a warm house, a full refrigerator and freezer.....and some paper plates to eat our supper on. Life is good!

Lefse, Limpa, Julekaka and more.

Yesterday I made 3 loaves each of Limpa and Yulekaka. They are nestled in the icy freezer.

Also made a batch of Creme de Menthe bars.

The Birds Nests were made last Saturday. I just put some icing in them. It is just a glop of icing this year. When Jill does it for me she makes 3 tiny blue eggs for the filling. Suppose this year they have to be called Thumb Prints since there are no eggs.
Bill was over this morning for our Lefse making day. They are ready to be packaged here and off to the freezer.

My photos didn't get in as planned!! This is what I had ready when Bill came. The 7 lbs. potatoes were peeled, cooked, mashed, then riced and 1/2 lb.butter, flour and a little pd. sugar added and then kneaded for 5 minutes. After sitting for awhile it is ready to roll out...1/4 cup at a time and baked on a griddle. The first rolling is done with a regular rolling pin and the last with this Lefse rolling pin with the ridges

A picture of a Swedish elf.

Two Christmons from the 60's when we lived in Pittsburgh.

Bill gave me a lesson on taking closeup photos today so I've been practicing!

See that little clip holding the candle? That was from Jerry's home in MN from the 30's. He remembers the candles being lit.........they don't get lit here.

I have 5 of these pine cone ornaments from my home, 30's also. They are in different colors.

Another ornament from Jerry's home.

This is a recent straw goat from Sweden.
And this one is about 20 years old.

Almost all of the ornaments on our trees are old. I love taking them out of the boxes and remembering when we acquired them, the occasion, from whom etc.

Tea bags and Kringlor recipe.

I got the idea for these tea bags from handmadebyheidi.blogspot.net. Her mother was crocheting bags so she helped her. Today was the Bible Study potluck and I wanted to bring something along with the food. Made 30 last night. There is a mint tea bag in each. The verse is kind of neat.

On Christmas Day at half past three brew yourself a cup of tea.
I'll think of you and you think of me while sitting near the Christmas Tree.

Most of the gals said they were going to hang theirs on the tree so chose the color accordingly.

Have a request for the Kringlor aka Kringle, Kringler or Danish Puff recipe.

Part I 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup flour, 1 tbs water

Part II 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup water, 1 cup flour, 3 eggs, 1 tsp almond extract

Part III 1 cup pd. sugar, 1 tbs soft butter, 1/2 tsp almond extract


Part I mix butter, flour and water. Pat out on a cookie sheet in 2 strips, 3 to 4 in. wide and the length of the pan. Set aside.

Part II In a saucepan heat the water and butter to boiling point. Remove and add flour all at once and stir until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Add almond extract. Spread over the crust to the edges. Bake 400º for about 45 min.

Part III Mix and spread on pastry.

Best served right away, but can be stored tightly covered. If freezing, frost after thawing.

These are Swedish diagonals with Lingonberries or raspberry jam works well too.
This is a before pic.......forgot to take an after. It is 5 lbs. of beef and pork for Köttbullar...Swedish meatballs.

This is the finished Sylta....jellied meat. It is made using veal, pork, lots of allspice, some bay leaves and a bit of gelatin. My Mother used to make head cheese when Dad butchered a pig. All parts of the pig were used!!! The heart, liver and tongue were used also....cooked with spices, tomato, and vinegar and sliced cold. Does that sound yummy???!!! It's like so many foods, if you grow up with it, you like it.

Well, so far I've gotten 2 Christmas cards back "not deliverable". So handy to go to whitepages.com and get the new addresses...guess they moved! It is kind of scary though to see how easy it is to find some one's address, phone number, age, spouses name etc. Good grief, if a person paid a few dollars they can even find out if the person has a criminal record.

Happy St Lucia Day.

For 50 years I've made Lucia Buns to serve on Lucia Day. Not this year...didn't get it done! It got too late last night to start making bread. This is what should have been on our table this morning. What to do, what to do? Swedish Kringle (Kringler) to the rescue. It is Swedish...but doesn't have cardamon in it. The big plus is that it only takes an hour to make and we really like it...love the almond. Son Gregg had pictures on his face book of his Lucia Buns and Bill had pictures of his cardamon braided bread. I know that Linda is baking many dozen buns right now. Years ago she brought the buns to work and everyone loved then. It is her forever job now! Fellow employees start asking her the first part of November when she is bringing in the bread.They don't really know when Lucia Day is or really care, just bring on the cardamon bread.

. The reason I got so far behind yesterday was that I had "funner" things to do. Jill and Linnea came over in the afternoon. We went downtown to a store that has loads of Scandinavian items...china, wooden pieces, table cloths, sweaters Lingonberries, coffee and on and on. Jill loves to look at all the items that have the Linnea flower painted on them. Well, of course, since that's her daughters name. Even saw Linnea tea. I bought a bag but don't know if the tea was from dried flowers or if it was just a pretty picture on the bag!! We were planning on Target for the next stop but got a call from Bill inviting us for dinner. Sure don't turn down those invites. He had bought a huge pork shoulder to roast and needed a few more people to help eat it. Well, cancel Target. Jill and I were going to bake Christmas cookies so we came home and she got a triple batch of thumb prints baked for me. I had two kinds already made up.

The roast was delicious, as was everything. For dessert Bill made brownies that we had warm with ice cream on top. Sooo good. Linnea loved playing with Anja...who is her mom's cousin. She wanted to go back there today.

The girls went to church with us today. Jill didn't get to stay through the gospel lesson so didn't get to hear her G'pa's sermon. Linnea didn't feel like sitting still and there is no nursery.

After our brunch and some more Kringle we finally went to Target. The toy department was filled with mostly older parents, grandparents and even older ones like me. It was so funny. Every single person looked dazed, their eyes glazed and just mindlessly wandering looking for SOMETHING! Sure glad I had Jill to help me. Linnea was getting very tired too and didn't realize that the big Dora box is for her.

A box from Phoenix. Linda gets some kind of basket or container and wanders around Trader Joe's and fills it with goodies for us to try. A few items are regulars like the dark cho covered orange jells and pistachios. Have you ever seen roast beef hash in a box? I haven't. Will sure be a good one to try when we need something..now. That roasted raspberry chipotle sauce is wonderful. There is a Lingonberry bread mix that will be fun to try. Thanks Linda.

More goodies. When Allan and Bettie were here they brought a Christmas bag. Look at all that goodness...jams of all sorts. We opened a jar of triple berry jam the other day. Normally when I have toast it is a heavy wheat bread. This time a toasted English Muffin with butter in all the little holes and the triple berry on top. Does it make you want some? Sorry I'm not sharing!

Another project from Allan's workshop. I love them. The photo isn't the greatest because the angels are on the top of a high bookcase. It was hard to hold the camera up so high and not see what the camera saw. And there was a promise to someone that I wouldn't stand on a chair unless someone else was in the house....in case I fell!!! The angels are each a different height. Thanks so much guys. Love all your surprise packages.

The temperature was in the high 30's today so a lot of snow melted but it is still icy in spots. Two couples in church this morning said,"see ya later". Both are heading south...one to Florida until Easter and the other to the Ozarks for a month or more.

It's good to be back!!!

I wasn't gone but the computer was...I missed it sooo much. The Geek's were working on it. When we got it home it still took Bill coming over to get us in business again. They had installed something that needed a different cord and we don't know anything about trouble shooting. Anyway, we're on line again. I don't have the address book or my bookmarks where all our family and blogging friends reside. It will take awhile to get that all back.

We had a great Thanksgiving with awesome food. Bill is such a good cook.
Jerry had his pain shot and is walking better.
I've been working on letters and notes in Christmas cards. It takes a long time. 2008 was such a hectic year and I missed sending so many cards last year. Hope I can do a better job this year.

Last night was the annual Women's Christmas Dinner at church....in our new building. The Commons was decorated beautifully. There was a hostess at each table who brought all the dishes and decorations with a nationality theme. Of course Marcia and I were at the Swedish table. We all brought food from our countries. I brought ostkaka and lingon berries and 2 kinds of Swedish cookies. The storm started during dinner and the roads and visibility were really bad on the way home.

Last year I made this quilt and was going to sew different sized hearts on to make it a Valentine quilt. I changed my mind! It is now a Christmas quilt....Peppermint Sticks and Trees. Decided this was faster than quilting the sampler from the previous post. It would be nice to finish the sampler though. There should be plenty of cover-ups to keep the girls warm Christmas Eve. The guys are warm blooded and always open the window in the kitchen when cooking. Of course every burner and the oven is on so it does get warm in that area. Hot some places and cold and drafty in other rooms.
The weather people are having a hey day telling us how bad the weather is going to get tonight.

It is very windy and when the rain turns to snow it will be a blizzard. Schools all along the Lake MI shore were closed today. Tomorrow will be a good day to bake cookies again and write some more letters and be happy to stay inside. And if it's icy I'll even fore go going to the mailbox to get the newspaper....although it is very nice to have the paper with a fresh cup of good coffee!

Friday night sew-in.

I didn't get as much finished as I'd hoped. Guess my ideas were bigger than my skills, time or whatever!! Anyway, I'm well on my way. The squares were made last year so I started with the 4-patches last night. This was a first layout with 6.5" cream borders but I felt that was too wide.

I like the 4.5" better. The cream border is sewn but the 2 rows of mixed and the outer cream is just laying there!!! The strips are mostly sewn together BUT that's all I have. So, back to sewing more strips together to cut up.

Destination??? Undecided!

I'm happy to have gotten this far. Now I don't have to keep running into the orphan blocks all the time. Thanks Heidi for giving me the push.

A Friday Night Sew-In!

I had a project planned for tomorrow but changed my mind when I saw that Heidi at handmadebyheidi.blogspot.com was having a sew-in tomorrow. It is very OK to change my mind!!! I'm going to work on a lap size Christmas quilt. It is time to finish the 12 Christmas fabric blocks made last year. Last night this top got finished. The 9 patch blocks were from the "one-a-day-block" organized by crazymomquilts last spring. I didn't feel like making a twin sized quilt so am doing 2 smaller ones. These are the other blocks that I think will make a quilt with the blocks on point.

Jerry had his pain shot today...2 weeks after we started with getting his clotting numbers OK. Success today! Well, I've got several new ideas for getting Vit K into a menu.

Mary Jane worked here in town today and was over. We did some quilting talk. She is making a quilt that little Linnea has decided she wants. She likes to sit under it when MJ is quilting and can hardly wait until it is finished. A budding quilter? We hope so. Her first outing when she was just a couple weeks old was to a local fabric shop with her Mom and I. After sewing talk MJ, Jerry and I went out for dinner. It was fun to hear about her trip to Mexico 2 weeks ago.

Andrew and Courtney stopped here Sunday afternoon and cut up the last of the branches. Jerry made sure they wore safety glasses. We sure appreciated their help. I think the lawn fellows will be here tomorrow to finish up the leaves...I've got cookies ready for when they come!! Then all we have to do before winter is move the snow blower to the garage. Let it snow. The house next door is empty and I almost wish it would snow soon so all those leaves don't blow to our yard with the prevailing wind.

Time to finish up a couple small projects so I'm ready for tomorrow. Happy sewing to the other virtual sewers. It will be fun to see the completed(!?) projects on Saturday.