God Jul!

We celebrated on Christmas Eve, as is the custom back home. While we missed sharing the holiday with family, it was the most relaxed Christmas we've ever had. A small Julbord with vegetarian meatballs and sausages, potatoes, beet salad, and Swedish crisp bread. Then on to the gifts!

When asked what they wanted most of all, both girls said Legos. Gayatri then specified that she wanted the Lego Kingdoms Castle.
Sarasvati: "Oh, you know you're not going to get that. It costs over $100!"
Gayatri: "Of course I know that I am not going to get it. That's okay. But if I said anything else I would be lying."

In the end Gayatri said her favorite gift was a porcelain doll that we had bought her at a thrift store for $3. Sarasvati's favorite was a 1915 edition of Heidi with a matching set of handkerchiefs. (By the way, just to be clear, Heidi is Swiss, not Swedish.)

Especially given our limited budget, I am glad our children have such an old-fashioned sense of fun.

Gift Making

Oh my, I think I have found myself a new hobby! These granny-square slippers (for my 8-year old) took just a few hours to make. A great way to use up some old wool scraps!

It's Christmas Time in the City

This weekend we went downtown to visit the Christmas Village in Love Park. It has been quite cold here, but everyone still enjoyed some outdoor time. Plus, they had a heated tent full of hand-made German ornaments ("Don't touch anything! Do you realize how much that costs!") Toasted almonds. Pretzels. The girls lingered at the table full of Russian dolls. We picked up a few gifts, and then headed over to the holiday show at the Comcast Center, just a couple of blocks away. These are both fun, free family activities (until you start buying things, of course) which are open until Christmas.

Glögg/Mulled Wine

One of my Christmas favorites: Glögg! Just pour a bottle of red wine (or non-alcoholic wine or fruit juice) in a pot, add about 1/4 cup sugar, a cinnamon stick, and say 10 or so cloves and cardamon pods. Heat slowly, then let steep for about an hour. Now it is ready to reheat (some add crazy amounts of vodka at this point...) and serve over raisins and blanched almonds.

The tray and glögg set were gifts from my sisters, and they sure are getting a lot of use!

Sankta Lucia

Today was one of those days that make it all worth it! The sleepless nights, gray hairs, chipped teeth(!), and all that. Like the first words, first steps, first day of school, the kids doing Lucia for us is one of those sweet things I have looked forward to since we first became parents. This is their first time to have done it all on their own, and I am so proud of them!

The girls set their alarm and woke up early this morning, having planned it all out the night before:

"And if I don't wake up, just pull my eyelids open, ok?"

While I was lying in bed dreaming about row-house-fires and girls tripping on long gowns in steep stairs while carrying hot beverages, they got themselves dressed and ready. They prepared our tray with saffron buns, gingerbread cookies, and hot coffee (thank you Mr Coffee with timer-function!) and woke us up with their sweet singing. It was perfect!

You can read about Lucia here, and watch this year's televised procession from Domkyrkan in my hometown Göteborg here.

We ended up with a late start to the school work today, but I love that we are able to have such flexibility!

Since we ate up our last saffron buns in the morning, we had to bake more to bring to the Swedish School party tomorrow.

And some sweets for the raffle!

Tomte Figures

Aren't they cute? Many of these tomte-figures were gifts to me from my great-aunt Vera. They each have my name and a year written at the bottom. The first one is from 1978, the year before I was born. This always intrigued me.

Perhaps it was just a gift to my parents that they later added my name to. But wouldn't it be fun if it was given to me before I was even born?

"Here, this is for your unborn child," says my great-aunt. "You know, it is never too soon to start thinking about your child's tomte-collection."

Is it possible I had one more tomte than all of my class-mates and I didn't even know it?

Simple Apple Cake

Craving apple dessert, but don't have time to make a pie? This cake is a good alternative to apple crumble.

2/3 cup milk ( I used coconut milk)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
about 2 apples, thinly sliced
1-2 oz grated almond paste/marzipan (alternatively just sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon)

Preheat oven to 350° and grease a round cake pan (8" or 9" will do). Combine the milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and let sit for a couple of minutes. Add the oil, sugar and vanilla. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt, then add to the wet ingredients. Pour into cake pan, spread out a little if necessary. Press apple slices down into the batter and sprinkle with grated almond paste. Bake for 25-30 minutes.