JoyDad's family was a different story.
He's on the right of the photo, on the lap of none other than Auntie RatK. What an adorable family, huh?! (Older not-yet-aliased brother on the left, Auntie RatM and Uncle DO had not yet arrived.)
I've enjoyed learning about JoyDad's family's holiday traditions. Like lutefisk. And the traditional holiday cheer that is memorialized every year on their Christmas home videos, the Glögg! I've yet to find a recipe that involves as many bottles as seem to appear on the videos, but I'm here to tell you, it's some amazing stuff. I have it on good authority (cough, Auntie RatK, ahem) that the fumes alone as the Glögg simmered on the stove could cause a state of elevation.
The holiday fumes in my own extended family had more to do with the simmering of dried green beans (I found a recipe that calls the dish Leather Britches, tee hee!) I guess there's a parallel to lutefisk, in that it's an old-fashioned method of preserving food that is now really only used for the sake of tradition. I've done it myself, though, from scratch, all the way from growing the beans in my own garden. Traditions must be preserved, no?
Lots of fun traditions, this time of year!
9 comments:
Maybe I should try Glogg for my husband this year? We usually make krumkake but haven't done it this year. Too many other things going on!
Just my luck, she kept all of my kid pictures...
And, yes, there are more of those Santa pictures besides that one! We went to the same place to see Santa every year for many years. That was before the mall Santas were so common. It may have even been the same person every year! One amusing note to the Santa pictures is that, when you look at all of them in order by year, you can see how JoyDad got all of the hand-me-down jackets from the unnamed older brother! LOL!
-AuntieRatK
Ooops, I didn't mean to reply as anonymous!!!
AuntieRatK
Just chiming-in to say how cute St. JoyDad and AuntieRatK are-were!
Very Merry all!
Barbara
The Glogg fumes may help explain JoyDad's unique sense of humor, no?
God Jul!
wow, and i was impressed with myself for making the teacher's cookies myself this year, dang girl .. green beans from garden to leather .. most impressive stuff
Them dried beans weren't just a JoyMama family tradition for eating at the holidays. Noooo, they were also the basis for testing whether a potential new family member was worthy of being added to the ol' family tree...
Of course, JoyMama said nothing of the *Dried Bean Test* as I sat down at a long table with her whole family for my first holiday meal with my could-be-soon-to-be in-laws....
I'm happy to report that I passed that test with flying colors. Yes, unlike JoyMam's uncle who made a big deal about eating one whole bean (with a frightful look of distaste on his face, I might add) I asked for seconds of the dried beans! It warmed JoyMama's grandma's heart when I asked her to pass me them dried beans.
But hey, they are made with bacon fat, how could I not like them??? Mmmmm, bacon...
JoyDad speaks truly. Though my relatives could scarcely believe it, given his enthusiastic first-response to those beans, I did not in fact clue him in to their importance in advance. I'm glad he passed both that test and the politics test (another one about which I didn't brief him in advance).
I'm also glad that JoyDad's family did not make second helpings of lutefisk a precondition of joining the clan... now, second helpings of the Glogg, maybe I did OK on that one...
Meanwhile, my father informs me that there will be dried beans at the family Christmas gathering in Kansas. His brother will be transporting them in all the way from Iowa! JoyGrandpa will just have to eat some extra beans for us, since we're not making the Kansas trek this year.
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