Traditions

Every year for my dad's birthday party, we gather to make korv. My dad has become quite infamous for his cooking this year. Not only did 14 people want to come to his lutefisk lunch (willingly) but his recipe for korv is being published in a cookbook for WTTW. It's always such a fun gathering. Now that the kids are getting older, they are really getting into it... literally getting in to it. But that's what you have to do to make korv... get into it.

First birthday

December 19th was Axel's first birthday. He's not a baby any more. :(

The Saturday before my sister threw a party of him. It was mostly Ander's friends. Picture 15 kids running around. crazy! but everyone had a great time. Of course aside from opening presents the most fun is eating birthday cake. Axel started off very meticulously. Using his left hand pointer finger picked each of the individual sprinkles off before touching the cake. It did take him a few bites before he shoved the whole cupcake in his mouth destroying it. Before and after pictures.

Traditions

We added a new tradition to our Christmas eve dinner this year. A couple months ago a very good friend of my mom's passed away. My mom and a few other friends got together and decided to carry on a Christmas tradition of her family's in her honor. At the dinner table each person gets a candle. One person starts by taking the candle of the person to the right of them, lighting it, and saying a blessing for the person who the candle belongs. That person in turn takes the candle of the person to their right and repeats this. It goes around the table until all the candles are lite and each person has been blessed. It was a beautiful sight to have all the candles lite and you couldn't help but feel blessed.

counting down...

Traditions

Christmas time is full of traditions in our family. TRADITIONS! thanks Tevye. In 2000 my mom while living in Sweden picked up a new one that we have incorporated into our traditions. One of the kitchen works taught my mom about Caribou moss that they use in their Advent candle wreaths. My mom loved the way it looked. Summer 2001 driving around Eagle River, my mom spotted it - Caribou Moss. She declared she was going to have Caribou Moss in her Advent candle wreath at Christmas. That Thanksgiving weekend in the stealth of night, coming home from seeing a movie in Eagle River, we stopped at the corner of two highways, slipped out of the car, and loaded our plastics bags with the moss. My mom loved it. Not only has the tradition of having it on my parent's Advent wreath, my mom and I have the tradition of finding it every year. After a couple years of digging it out of the snow and frost at Thanksgiving, we discovered it's around all summer long. Now we gather it around labor day and let it dry until Thanksgiving before we bring it back to Chicago. This year we did pick a little bit extra at Thanksgiving. So here's me all bundled up gathering moss for my mom. I also included a close up shot of the moss. After the weekend, I'll have the Advent set-up.





Caribou Moss -
Cladonia rangifernia
Lichens are unusual plants in that they are composed of both algae and fungi cells.
Caribou moss is a light-colored, fruticose lichen that grows in well-drained, open environments. AS the common names suggest, caribou moss and reindeer lichen are important food of that species.

Thanksgiving

Every year we go to my Aunt Dorothy's in Green Bay for Thanksgiving. This short-changes my parents on the turkey leftovers. My mom makes Thanksgiving for us, so she and my dad can eat turkey soup. Here's Anders eating pumpkin pie and Axel eating mashed potatoes.

disappointment

I was already to kick off my holiday season with the family-friendly comedy Fred Claus this past weekend. I did listen to the reviews before work on Friday. they were average. I knew not to expect too much but i was still disappointed. I wanted to laugh. i chuckled a couple of times but it was way to serious. Santa was on edge and shaky almost the whole movie. Fred had some funny moments but they were over shadowed by the seriousness of the main story. Not the best way to start a jolly holly holiday... nor a good way to end a long week. On to the Festival of Lights parade this weekend. Mickey and Minnie will be there, so it should be a bit more up beat than Fred Claus.

"these are a few of my favorite things..."

One of my favorite things about Chicago... on a nice crisp day the wind blowing from the west straight down the river envelopes you lightly in a chocolate fragrance. it comes from the last remaining candy factory in Chicago. it's almost the only thing that makes waiting for the bus enjoyable.

p.s. another favorite thing is the Christmas lights. they are starting to put them on the trees for the Festival of Lights parade on November 17.