Welcome to the Advent Calendar Blog Hop!
Prairie Schooler 2013 Santa
18 count Country Mocha Aida
In case you didn't know, Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching
is hosting her annual Advent Calendar.
Make sure you check her blog each day for daily surprises behind each door!
Today is Day Two of Advent which means we're getting closer to Christmas with each passing minute.
No wonder poor Santa has his Cuckoo Clock chirping and his trusty compass and clock both
attached to his wrist! Poor guy. And here I thought I had it rough trying to keep up with
Christmas stitching. (Unlike Santa, I gave up on a lot of my plans - not enough hours in the day
to stitch all the Shepherd's Bush stockings I wanted to make - LOL)
My motto: There's always next year!
Jo asked that each of us participating in the Advent Blog Hop share a recipe or tradition
which our culture or family follows each Christmas.
I come from strong Scandinavian roots, having a maternal grand-mother who was Swedish
and a paternal grand-mother who was Norwegian.
Every year we spent Christmas Eve at my Norwegian grand-mother's house, and I miss
that tradition terribly now that she's gone. One tradition which she always made sure
we followed was the Scandinavian tradition of having Risengrod, or rice porridge, Christmas Eve.
(My grandmother actually made and served rice pudding, not porridge.)
It was DELICIOUS, and no one in our family has
ever been able to replicate it just like hers despite many attempts.
We'd go to church after dinner, then return to her house for coffee and the rice pudding.
The tradition is to have one almond hidden in the batch.
Whomever gets the dish with the almond is supposed to have a year of good fortune ahead,
but my grandmother always added a little special wrapped gift to the person receiving the almond.
I found this link which explains the tradition a bit more and includes a recipe -
but I'm not vouching for its taste as I've never had this rice porridge before.
Here's to wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holiday!
Don't forget to eat your Risengrod on Christmas Eve to keep the nissen away!
I went to a college founded by Danish Lutherans and we had several Scandinavian traditions around Christmas. My favorite was the Santa Lucia festival. Loved the abelskiver, but never became even mildly fond of the lutefisk.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing those memories of your grandmother, and your wonderful stitching. I love the colours in your Santa - so striking.
ReplyDeleteWonderful memories to share....Love your Santa.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking part and sharing those great foody family memories.
ReplyDeleteWe always used to have rice pudding as afters on a Tuesday when I was little! It was basically pudding rice in a dish with some milk then baked in the oven. I don't think Mum added anything to the recipe as it was meant to be a cheap but filling option. Thursday was macaroni pudding, same recipe but macaroni not rice!
I enjoyed reading about your Christmas memories my friend! And your stitching is great!
ReplyDeleteGreat Santa Kevin.
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat story. Love your memories. =)
I have strong Swedish roots on both my father and mother's sides. Actually it is all Swedish... lol. I remember the rice pudding tradition, however our family didn't do the hidden almond. I make my mother's rusks; which is one of our families favorite traditional foods.
ReplyDeleteI love hearing about other peoples traditions. Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous Santa Kevin. I do really like these designs but have never bought any. Perhaps I should rectify that :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful Santa Kevin! My husband's family is Norwegian. To this day, the still make lefse for the holidays.
ReplyDeleteLoved reading your traditions! I love rice pudding ~ perhaps I will add it to my Christmas Eve menu!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, Santa is a busy guy, he looks great! Although my background is German and Welsh, my name is Scandinavian - I love hearing about your grandmother's rice pudding. I wonder if my family would like that, I know I would!
ReplyDeleteLoved your story. What a sweet memory of your grandmother and your family's Christmas tradition. Santa turned out great. :-)
ReplyDeleteYour Santa is so handsome :) The little compass and the cuckoo clock are so cute! And your rice pudding tradition is a wonderful memory ;)
ReplyDeleteLOVE the coo-ing cuckoo clock! Don't we all feel a little like that this time of year?? There's nothing better than a dish made from on old family recipe!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing tradition! I love rice pudding...will def. be trying your link.
ReplyDeleteLovely Santa and lovely memories. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very nice Santa! and a reminder that there's only 21 days before Christmas, oh no!
ReplyDeleteYou've got me curious now about that rice pudding..
Love your Santa! I have that design and I was just looking at it last night. Thank you for sharing your tradition with us all.
ReplyDeleteLove the Santa. Thank you for sharing your tradition with us!
ReplyDeleteYour Santa is really festive and so pretty! I love it and it is helping me to get in the spirit of the Christmas season. Thank you for sharing your family tradition with all of us! :)
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping you get the almond this year! Love your busy Santa. Happy Holidays!
ReplyDeleteLove to hear about other traditions. Love the Santa too!
ReplyDelete