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!
