As far back as I can remember, there has always been some sort of tradition going on at some point during the year in my family. Annual trips to the cabin on a lake in Minnesota for a week long vacation. Shopping trips with my grandmother to the mall for a fresh new wardrobe for the upcoming school year. Lefsemaking day with my paternal grandparents and parents in preparation for the giant family gathering around the turkey, and a cookie baking/decorating party at my maternal grandparent’s house for my favorite holiday of the year; Christmas.
Having grown up with so many traditions, I find myself as an adult trying so dearly to hang on to them; to hopefully re-create the memories and hygge felt during these times for my youngest siblings, nephews, and maybe one day even children of my very own.
Maybe this is the reason why the holiday season is often found as overwhelming for some. The obligation, alone, of upholding so many traditions that Great Aunt Hudda instilled upon us all at birth can crush any holiday zen. The obligation to match, or even one-up, the amazing Swedish Meatball recipe. To perfect the art of Lefse rolling and Krumkake baking. And Valhalla forbid you forget to put out the repugnant Lutefisk this year for Christmas Eve, or prepare to have the Norse gods and all of the Viking ancestors wreak havoc and leash the dogs of war upon your years to come. Well, I can relate.
Even with all that being said, I find the upholding of our most cherished Norwegian and family traditions to be an honor still. Where I struggle is in the addition of NEW traditions. Thank Odin, Thor and Freyja I had my mother to help drive and influence (what I now consider) a Christmas tradition MUST.
“How many recipes do you think we can make?” my mother asks me via what seemed to be an urgent text on a slow Thursday afternoon at work.
“Ummm, like 2…” I say feeling pretty confident even that many is quite the feat.
“Nope. I’m thinking 10.”
Mother is referencing her “Christmas Candy 2017” board she created on Pinterest. A beautiful board full of the all the Christmas candies in the world. The “10” she is referencing are not just candies, but the oh so coveted, dainty, mouthwatering truffle. The only challenge I see: she has approximately 1100 different truffle recipes pinned to her board. Mission numero uno, downsize the list.
As the afternoon passed, and several hundred text messages back and forth, we finally whittled her master list, or board rather, down to 11 of what we considered would be the most delicious truffles ever. But we weren’t stopping there, oh no! On top of that truckload of chocolate, we pursued 5 different candies. We planned to make these “in between” the fuss over the truffles. I told my mother, “There will be no time to lose!! Be at my house on Saturday morning around 10:00 am. Better make that 9:45 am – sharp.”
If anyone knows anything about Saturday morning, nothing really gets accomplished before 11:00 am. So naturally, 11:30 am rolls around and we casually wandered over to the local market to gather our three page long shopping list of items. This should not take us very long – or so we thought. 22lbs of chocolates, nuts, other assorted ingredients, packaging materials, and 2 Grande coffees later, we finally arrived to the checkout. After feeling we had to very seriously explain, “No, we do not have a sugar problem. We’re making truffles,” to the nice cashier (who never even batted an eyelash), we were ready to begin what is to be the most exciting, fun, exhausting, chocolate-filled day. Ever.
For the next 12 hours my mother and I created delicious treats, memories, and forged (what we hope will be) a brand new family tradition for years and years to come. Throughout all the organization, puzzlement over the recipes, “Bowls! We need more bowls!”, Christmas tunes buzzing in the background and enough belly laughs and giggles to fill up a whole new year, never once did I ever feel obligated. I did not feel stressed and I did not worry that my Nordic heritage was going to be lost in the hustle and bustle.
So I say to those out there wanting to begin (or add) new traditions; it is a truly magical thing to do, and I say place all your worries aside and go for it! There is absolutely nothing to lose and your heart will be bursting at it’s seams with happiness.
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