No, I am not like Scrooge who hated Christmas and all of its cheer. It’s just that it seems to be the same old, same old, and too much effort to decorate and to select presents.
When I was a kid, I looked forward to the toy catalogs in the Sunday paper. Gosh, I wanted that gas station set, and the chemistry set, and… Actually, all things considered I and my brother wound up with quite a pile of toys and books. As a parent, I enjoyed selecting toys and books that my children would enjoy. Even as a grandparent, I did the same. But now with half my grandchildren being adults, it seems all we do is come up with clever T-shirts or sweat-shirts. Or maybe a book or two.
And despite what the ads say about “perfect gifts”, I think that a gift card for a store that the recipients rarely enter is not a “perfect gift”. Nor is a $1,000 computer for somebody who already has one, especially in a family where the gift budget rarely exceeds the cost of the aforementioned apparel.
I once was a mall Santa. That was quite an adventure, but I never did it again or wanted to. Believe it or not, I was told I was the best Santa at that mall. Apparently, some of the others weren’t good actors or just didn’t like little kids.
I have all but given up on sending Christmas greetings. I just haven’t put any effort into selecting a different wintry picture for a card or newsletter. Just as I don’t really care about other people’s grandkids, I don’t care to burden them with what my grandkids are doing. Do I tell them that we have given up downhill skiing? My wife did write a bunch of cards this past weekend, but I didn’t even look at what she wrote.
For many years I made a fruitcake that definitely was not a door-stop. At the peak, I made 24 one-pound cakes each season. Maybe about ten years ago, it just was too much effort to order quality ingredients, cut the fruit and nuts, beat the eggs, stir in the flour and butter, mix the fruit and nuts in, and… There were a lot of disappointed people when I stopped making fruitcake. See the article list below for the recipe and more.
We haven’t put up a tree for years, even though we have hundreds of nice-looking balsam fir at our cabin. Partly because I’ve developed an allergy to balsam, partly I just don’t want to make the effort to select a tree, cut it, bring it back to Duluth, decorate it, then take it down, and haul it back to our cabin. But my wife still buys a wreath and hangs it by the front door.
For many years, we did a Julbord or Christmas Smörgåsbord. This was a five-course buffet, starting with herring, potatoes, and cheese, and ending with three desserts. All of it accompanied by snaps (aqvavit) and beer. I forget why we stopped. Although my wife did the bulk of the cooking, maybe I got tired of doing the shopping or just being on my feet for so long. Or maybe it was because one relative would only eat bread and nothing else until dessert.
I do get tired of walking by Salvation Army kettles. One year I bought a money order and put it in a kettle. I used a money order so that I wouldn’t get appeal after appeal in the mail for the rest of the year. This year, I just keep my pocket full of change. As I go in or out, I just grab some change without counting it: pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Maybe I should go back to dollar bills so that whoever counts all the change doesn’t have so much work.
But others are not going to give up their Christmas traditions because of my disinterest. And if someone says “Merry Christmas” to me, I will respond with a smile.
Now the real Scrooges are those who object to cashiers and other retail people saying “Merry Christmas”. Way back when I was a grocery cashier I found it repetitive, but I did it with a smile. But now some object because it is unfair to those who aren’t “Christians”. One should say “Happy Holidays”. For them, I have an Italian saying, “Ch’é paese vai, ch’é usanze trovi.” “Wherever you go, follow customs you find.” Or “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” I don’t believe in the words of Handel’s “Messiah”, but I enjoy performances of it for the music, and I certainly don’t make a fuss because of the words.
Tom Batiuk, who draws the comic strip “Funky Winkerbean”, is having a ball with excessive sensitivity to the words of Christmas music. The principal is vetoing song after song for the Christmas concert because somebody might be offended by the words. Somebody should tell those like the principal that “White Christmas” was written by a Jewish immigrant. The same guy that wrote “Easter Parade”.
For a list of some of my previous Christmas articles, see “Christmas blog links” at
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-blog-links.html. Many of them are more upbeat than this.
Oh, by the way, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Also published in the Reader Weekly, 2015-12-16 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2015/12./16/6409_a_note_from_scrooge
Showing posts with label Julbord. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Julbord. Show all posts
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Christmas blog links
This entry is a placeholder for links to some of my previous articles on Christmas. I will add those links as I post those articles here.
A Note from Scrooge 2015-12-17 Reader Weekly
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/a-note-from-scrooge.html
Ghosts of Christmases Past 2014-12-25
http://magree.blogspot.com/2014/12/ghosts-of-christmases-past.html
Fruitcake 2005-12-08 Reader Weekly
http://magree.blogspot.com/2014/12/fruitcake-doorstop-or-holiday-treat.html
Julbord or Christmas Smörgåsbord 2006-12-21
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/julbord-or-christmas-smorgasbord
Ebenezer Scrooge Lives On 2000-12-21
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/ebenezer-scrooge-lives-on.html
Christmas! Ah Funbug! 2004-12-23
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-ah-funbug.html
'Tis the Season of New Beginnings 2007-12-20
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/tis-season-of-beginnings.html
Reluctant Santa, 2000-12-07
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-reluctant-santa.html
Merry Christmas and other seasonal thoughts 2005-12-22
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/merry-christmas-and-other-seasonal.html
A Note from Scrooge 2015-12-17 Reader Weekly
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/a-note-from-scrooge.html
Ghosts of Christmases Past 2014-12-25
http://magree.blogspot.com/2014/12/ghosts-of-christmases-past.html
Fruitcake 2005-12-08 Reader Weekly
http://magree.blogspot.com/2014/12/fruitcake-doorstop-or-holiday-treat.html
Julbord or Christmas Smörgåsbord 2006-12-21
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/julbord-or-christmas-smorgasbord
Ebenezer Scrooge Lives On 2000-12-21
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/ebenezer-scrooge-lives-on.html
Christmas! Ah Funbug! 2004-12-23
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-ah-funbug.html
'Tis the Season of New Beginnings 2007-12-20
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/tis-season-of-beginnings.html
Reluctant Santa, 2000-12-07
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-reluctant-santa.html
Merry Christmas and other seasonal thoughts 2005-12-22
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/merry-christmas-and-other-seasonal.html
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Julbord or Christmas Smörgåsbord
I hope the printer got my title spelled correctly.
Smörgåsbord should have two dots over the first “o” and a
circle over the “a”. It is surprising, in a state with so many
“Swedes”, the number of newspapers that can’t print Swedish properly,
especially since personal computers have been able to do so for over
twenty years, right out of the box. [The printer did get the spelling
correct.]
Pet peeve one out of the way. Now on to pet peeve two. I bet many of you think a smörgåsbord is a pile-all-you-can-on-your-plate buffet – meatballs on top of beets scrunched up against mashed potatoes buried under a chicken wing sticking into onion rings surrounding olives covering a slice of ham or two.
Nej, nej, nej! No, no, no! A smörgåsbord is a buffet but one you approach with a plan for a long meal of complementary dishes. You take what you want of certain foods, eat them with bread, cheese, beer, and snaps, go get a clean plate to serve yourself the same or different foods, and repeat until you are satisfied.
What’s snaps? It rhymes with schnapps and is alcoholic but not sweet. Snaps include aquavit and vodka. My favorite liquor store used to have five kinds of aquavit, but now only has three. I prefer the Norwegian and Swedish aquavits to the Danish.
According to Tore Wretman (1) one makes five visits to the smörgåsbord, taking from a different group of foods each time. These are:
To give you some idea of what is included in a smörgåsbord, I’ll tell you what we have at our house. But first let me give you a little history.
When we lived in the Twin Cities, we decided in the late 70s to do a julbord for some friends. We did it for a couple of years until one couple hadn’t even left their house when we were ready to start and one woman’s preschooler bumped her into a stack of good plates (they wouldn’t get a babysitter). We took it up again in a later year but only for the immediate family. It became such a custom that our children as adults expect it. I lost interest one year when the grandkids didn’t touch much more than bread and dessert. The family persisted and the adult grandkid now expects it.
So, we blew a wad at the supermarket today for some of the stuff, and I’ve searched my computer for previous year’s menus. For the most part, we try to have three main things for each round along with three side offerings.
Sill: We have served herring in cream sauce. I’ve also served the pickled herring in mustard sauce and in layers in a glass jar. The layers are herring, sliced carrots, and red onion rings. This year we might try smoked herring also. We also serve potatoes boiled with dill, homemade limpa (Swedish rye), hard bread, and cheese (Jarlsberg, Emmantaler, and Gouda).
Fish: I’ve poached a couple of trout or a salmon filet with dill, bay leaf, carrots, and onions. We generally have lots of cooked shrimp and my wife makes a crab salad. My old lists have only olives as an accompaniment beyond more potatoes, bread, and cheese
Cold meats: We always have sliced ham. My wife makes deviled eggs and I make a special liver paste. I get the finest grind Braunschweiger (liver sausage) I can find and mix in brandy and whipping cream until it can be served with a spoon. We often put pickles, red cabbage salad, and sliced tomatoes besides these dishes.
Warm dishes: My wife does meatballs that include veal, beef, and pork. She based it on Wretman’s recipe; he wrote that his readers’ mothers, grandmothers, and aunts might disagree with his version. She also does a plum-packed pork loin. We buy small wiener-like sausages to satisfy our daughter’s request for prinskorv. We serve beets, lingon, and celery at the side.
Dessert: Pepparkakor (ginger cookies), of course. We have also included pears, grapes, applesauce, or almonds. We are generally too tired to think of any other prepared desserts. Besides, who but our son with his “dessert reserve” has any room for more?
After reading this, I hope you realize that Swedish food is not all white and bland. A good smörgåsbord is an array of bright colors and many flavors.
Så, till bords, skål, god aptit, God Jul och Gott Nytt År (so, to the table, skål, good appetite, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year).
(1) Svensk Husmanskost, Tore Wretman, Forum, Stockholm, 1967. Originally husmanskost meant plain food for the servants, but I won’t try to translate its modern meanings. Wretman took seven pages to do so.
Originally published in Reader Weekly December 21, 2006.
See also Christmas blog links
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-blog-links.html
Pet peeve one out of the way. Now on to pet peeve two. I bet many of you think a smörgåsbord is a pile-all-you-can-on-your-plate buffet – meatballs on top of beets scrunched up against mashed potatoes buried under a chicken wing sticking into onion rings surrounding olives covering a slice of ham or two.
Nej, nej, nej! No, no, no! A smörgåsbord is a buffet but one you approach with a plan for a long meal of complementary dishes. You take what you want of certain foods, eat them with bread, cheese, beer, and snaps, go get a clean plate to serve yourself the same or different foods, and repeat until you are satisfied.
What’s snaps? It rhymes with schnapps and is alcoholic but not sweet. Snaps include aquavit and vodka. My favorite liquor store used to have five kinds of aquavit, but now only has three. I prefer the Norwegian and Swedish aquavits to the Danish.
According to Tore Wretman (1) one makes five visits to the smörgåsbord, taking from a different group of foods each time. These are:
First, “Hans Majestät
Sillen”, His Majesty the Herring
Second, fish
Third, cold meats
Fourth, warm dishes
Fifth, dessert
Second, fish
Third, cold meats
Fourth, warm dishes
Fifth, dessert
To give you some idea of what is included in a smörgåsbord, I’ll tell you what we have at our house. But first let me give you a little history.
When we lived in the Twin Cities, we decided in the late 70s to do a julbord for some friends. We did it for a couple of years until one couple hadn’t even left their house when we were ready to start and one woman’s preschooler bumped her into a stack of good plates (they wouldn’t get a babysitter). We took it up again in a later year but only for the immediate family. It became such a custom that our children as adults expect it. I lost interest one year when the grandkids didn’t touch much more than bread and dessert. The family persisted and the adult grandkid now expects it.
So, we blew a wad at the supermarket today for some of the stuff, and I’ve searched my computer for previous year’s menus. For the most part, we try to have three main things for each round along with three side offerings.
Sill: We have served herring in cream sauce. I’ve also served the pickled herring in mustard sauce and in layers in a glass jar. The layers are herring, sliced carrots, and red onion rings. This year we might try smoked herring also. We also serve potatoes boiled with dill, homemade limpa (Swedish rye), hard bread, and cheese (Jarlsberg, Emmantaler, and Gouda).
Fish: I’ve poached a couple of trout or a salmon filet with dill, bay leaf, carrots, and onions. We generally have lots of cooked shrimp and my wife makes a crab salad. My old lists have only olives as an accompaniment beyond more potatoes, bread, and cheese
Cold meats: We always have sliced ham. My wife makes deviled eggs and I make a special liver paste. I get the finest grind Braunschweiger (liver sausage) I can find and mix in brandy and whipping cream until it can be served with a spoon. We often put pickles, red cabbage salad, and sliced tomatoes besides these dishes.
Warm dishes: My wife does meatballs that include veal, beef, and pork. She based it on Wretman’s recipe; he wrote that his readers’ mothers, grandmothers, and aunts might disagree with his version. She also does a plum-packed pork loin. We buy small wiener-like sausages to satisfy our daughter’s request for prinskorv. We serve beets, lingon, and celery at the side.
Dessert: Pepparkakor (ginger cookies), of course. We have also included pears, grapes, applesauce, or almonds. We are generally too tired to think of any other prepared desserts. Besides, who but our son with his “dessert reserve” has any room for more?
After reading this, I hope you realize that Swedish food is not all white and bland. A good smörgåsbord is an array of bright colors and many flavors.
Så, till bords, skål, god aptit, God Jul och Gott Nytt År (so, to the table, skål, good appetite, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year).
(1) Svensk Husmanskost, Tore Wretman, Forum, Stockholm, 1967. Originally husmanskost meant plain food for the servants, but I won’t try to translate its modern meanings. Wretman took seven pages to do so.
Originally published in Reader Weekly December 21, 2006.
See also Christmas blog links
http://magree.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-blog-links.html
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Ghosts of Christmases Past
Our saddest Christmas was after a trip to Japan.
We escorted my wife’s mother on a multi-stage trip from Ontario to Japan and back to visit our son and his wife, new-born daughter, and many Japanese relatives. I spent so much time crammed into an airline seat that I didn’t want to ever fly again. Although Grandma at 92 didn’t have a lot of stamina for long walks, she greatly enjoyed the sites and the people.
Near the end of the trip, she awoke with jaw pain. Our son took her to a hospital where she was diagnosed with a heart problem, but she was cleared for the return flights to Canada.
After she was home she had more heart problems. She was hospitalized, had surgery that wasn’t successful, and slowly declined, dying at ten Christmas morning.
Almost all of our other Christmas celebrations have been joyous occasions in many different settings.
My earliest memories are great dreams looking at toy catalogs, seeing the train layouts in the department stores, and visits to Santa.
About Santa, I was Santa once at Mariner Mall. Never again. I never lied so much in my life. “I would like a Britney Spears…” “I’ll see what we can do about that.”
Several of our Christmases were spent at ski resorts. Twice with Club Med in Misurina, Italy, once in Kitzbühel, Austria, and once in Big Sky, Montana.
We’ve had many Christmases with a houseful of guests. It always seemed that everybody was sitting in front of the fireplace, eating sweet rolls, and waiting to open presents. That is, everybody, except an adult male. We had to wait for whoever it was that year to get up, shower, and shave before we could proceed. Was I irritated on the kids’ behalf or my own?
When we lived in Sweden, we picked up two winter solstice traditions: Sankta Lucia and julbord.
We had a Luciafest at work in Stockholm. One year I was appointed Stjärnpojke (Star boy), the guy with the pointed hat who was an attendant to Sankta Lucia. After singing a round of Sankta Lucia, we had glögg and princess torta. Glögg is a potent mixture of wine, vodka, raisins, and spices. Princess torta is a layer cake with whipped cream and custard between alternating layers and green marzipan covering the top and sides.
Julbord means Christmas table and is a variant of a smörgåsbord. No, it is not an all you can pile on your plate pig-out. It is a five course meal where you take certain selections for each course. You can repeat a course if you like. And have all the beer and snaps you want. (Snaps is akvavit, vodka, and their cousins.) We had a julbord for many years, but have given it up as too much fuss.
Another Christmas tradition that has succumbed to “too much fuss” is fruitcake. I am insulted whenever anyone refers to fruitcake as a doorstop. People looked forward to the fruitcake I made based on a recipe that my mother had found. One of the secrets is quality ingredients. You can find the recipe at “Fruitcake: Doorstop or Holiday Treat”.
We have given up on gift exchange in our family. We became too predictable: sweatshirts and t-shirts with funny logos or books. I like each of my sweatshirts but the pile threatens to fall off the shelf each time I pull one out. Many of the books are interesting, but I think most of us have only dabbled in some of them. I know I have one by a very famous author sitting on the desk at our cabin that I keep telling myself to read a few more pages of.
For awhile, I printed cards and a letter. Then I got a new printer that didn’t do the colors well. Then I felt I was writing the same old, same old newsletter, some of which would be about grandchildren the recipients would never meet. The good news is that by using different software I can print cards with great color. Now, I only have to finish this column on the Saturday before Christmas and address those cards.
Church Christmas caroling did give my singing career a boost. The choir was going to be singing at St. Ann’s Residence in Duluth, and the director invited others to join. I drove the good singer in our family to the event and joined in the singing. I stood right behind the director and she invited me into the choir! I think it was my energy, not my skill. From there I went from being a timid off-key singer to a singing student to a singer who got invited to do solos to a singer who doesn’t practice much.
I think one of the best things I did for Christmas happened on our first Christmas together. We were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and I knew there was a policeman on foot patrol at Shaker Square, a five minute drive away. I took him some cookies and coffee. He was standing in a doorway and really appreciated it.
However you celebrate this solstice time, may the return of the sun bring you wonder and joy.
Also published in the Reader Weekly, 2014-12-24 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/12/24/4568_ghosts_of_christmases_past.
We escorted my wife’s mother on a multi-stage trip from Ontario to Japan and back to visit our son and his wife, new-born daughter, and many Japanese relatives. I spent so much time crammed into an airline seat that I didn’t want to ever fly again. Although Grandma at 92 didn’t have a lot of stamina for long walks, she greatly enjoyed the sites and the people.
Near the end of the trip, she awoke with jaw pain. Our son took her to a hospital where she was diagnosed with a heart problem, but she was cleared for the return flights to Canada.
After she was home she had more heart problems. She was hospitalized, had surgery that wasn’t successful, and slowly declined, dying at ten Christmas morning.
Almost all of our other Christmas celebrations have been joyous occasions in many different settings.
My earliest memories are great dreams looking at toy catalogs, seeing the train layouts in the department stores, and visits to Santa.
About Santa, I was Santa once at Mariner Mall. Never again. I never lied so much in my life. “I would like a Britney Spears…” “I’ll see what we can do about that.”
Several of our Christmases were spent at ski resorts. Twice with Club Med in Misurina, Italy, once in Kitzbühel, Austria, and once in Big Sky, Montana.
We’ve had many Christmases with a houseful of guests. It always seemed that everybody was sitting in front of the fireplace, eating sweet rolls, and waiting to open presents. That is, everybody, except an adult male. We had to wait for whoever it was that year to get up, shower, and shave before we could proceed. Was I irritated on the kids’ behalf or my own?
When we lived in Sweden, we picked up two winter solstice traditions: Sankta Lucia and julbord.
We had a Luciafest at work in Stockholm. One year I was appointed Stjärnpojke (Star boy), the guy with the pointed hat who was an attendant to Sankta Lucia. After singing a round of Sankta Lucia, we had glögg and princess torta. Glögg is a potent mixture of wine, vodka, raisins, and spices. Princess torta is a layer cake with whipped cream and custard between alternating layers and green marzipan covering the top and sides.
Julbord means Christmas table and is a variant of a smörgåsbord. No, it is not an all you can pile on your plate pig-out. It is a five course meal where you take certain selections for each course. You can repeat a course if you like. And have all the beer and snaps you want. (Snaps is akvavit, vodka, and their cousins.) We had a julbord for many years, but have given it up as too much fuss.
Another Christmas tradition that has succumbed to “too much fuss” is fruitcake. I am insulted whenever anyone refers to fruitcake as a doorstop. People looked forward to the fruitcake I made based on a recipe that my mother had found. One of the secrets is quality ingredients. You can find the recipe at “Fruitcake: Doorstop or Holiday Treat”.
We have given up on gift exchange in our family. We became too predictable: sweatshirts and t-shirts with funny logos or books. I like each of my sweatshirts but the pile threatens to fall off the shelf each time I pull one out. Many of the books are interesting, but I think most of us have only dabbled in some of them. I know I have one by a very famous author sitting on the desk at our cabin that I keep telling myself to read a few more pages of.
For awhile, I printed cards and a letter. Then I got a new printer that didn’t do the colors well. Then I felt I was writing the same old, same old newsletter, some of which would be about grandchildren the recipients would never meet. The good news is that by using different software I can print cards with great color. Now, I only have to finish this column on the Saturday before Christmas and address those cards.
Church Christmas caroling did give my singing career a boost. The choir was going to be singing at St. Ann’s Residence in Duluth, and the director invited others to join. I drove the good singer in our family to the event and joined in the singing. I stood right behind the director and she invited me into the choir! I think it was my energy, not my skill. From there I went from being a timid off-key singer to a singing student to a singer who got invited to do solos to a singer who doesn’t practice much.
I think one of the best things I did for Christmas happened on our first Christmas together. We were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and I knew there was a policeman on foot patrol at Shaker Square, a five minute drive away. I took him some cookies and coffee. He was standing in a doorway and really appreciated it.
However you celebrate this solstice time, may the return of the sun bring you wonder and joy.
Also published in the Reader Weekly, 2014-12-24 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/12/24/4568_ghosts_of_christmases_past.
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