Christmas Plans

Merry Christmas early!

I am so happy it's finally down to the last few days before Christmas. That's when it gets exciting and we get to do all the fun stuff. All the school parties and extended family things are DONE and I can concentrate on my family now.

Last week I mentioned something about our Christmas Eve tradition. Well, I am working on making it a tradition. My husband, Matt, is half Swedish. His father is full blood and his great-great grandfather came from Sweden in the 19th century. I think this is absolutely wonderful because 1. being Swedish is uncommon and cool and 2. I have no idea what my family's heritage is. The records got burned up in the Civil War and we just have no idea. I do know there is some Native American and German mixed in, but that's all.

So I have thoroughly latched on to his family heritage and have made it my own :) I want the girls to know where they came from as well. Swedes have some really neat Christmas traditions and I have tried to replicate that here in Texas. Our real Christmas tree, as pictured below, is decortated with handmade traditional straw ornaments from Sweden, plus the ones I made in the colors of red and white. In Sweden you don't put the tree up till Christmas Eve, but they celebrate Christmas far into January.

Also, they have the Christmas Eve Smorgasbord, which is the massive FEAST they like to have at all celebrations. The Christmas one is the biggest though. A typical menu is mammoth in size, but I will make ours VERY simple. They also like lots of pickled fish and tongue, and well, uh, that's definitely not on the menu here :)

So, our much simplified plan is this:

homemade rye bread
homemade crackers (hardtack or knackkebrod)
assorted cheeses
sardines (for my dad)
chicken liver pate (I am experimenting with this one)
smoked salmon (if I can find it) and dill sauce
swedish meatballs
small red potatoes, boiled and served with melted butter and chopped onions
pickled beets (storebought)
dilled cucumbers
pickles

rice pudding with an almond hidden inside
ginger cookies
sugar cookies
coffee and glogg- spiced wine

Now, I tend to get freaked out and try to make everything perfect. I was going to do a ham, but unless I find an amazing deal I'm cutting that one out. I was also going to cook my own beets, but now I'm not. Anyways, hopefully today I can make the bread and crackers and freeze them, then the day before I can do cookies, mix up the meatballs and do the pate.

We'll see..

Also, I am doing an experiment that I'm really excited about and plan to blog about this week if possible. It has to do with diet and weightloss.

Maybe I'll post some recipes as I'm cooking them too :) But you know how that goes with me...