Melanie Heuiser Hill ampersand

author

Melanie Heuiser Hill

Melanie Heuiser Hill ampersand

author

Melanie Heuiser Hill

A Swedish Christmas Table

The table that spikes a sweet mem­o­ry for me is my Grandmother’s round oak table. Extend­ed for the Christ­mas hol­i­day with three leaves, it could accom­mo­date most of the fam­i­ly of eight and their wives. We cousins were seat­ed at aux­il­iary tables on the porch and liv­ing room. But the round (extend­ed oval) table was always the pret­ti­est, with Swedish paint­ed can­dle­hold­ers and a sea­son­al tablecloth.

The air was elec­tric with the fun of cousins eye­ing pack­ages under the dec­o­rat­ed tree and play­ing games like Uncle Wig­g­ley. One year Grand­ma lit the tree with Swedish clip-on candles.

We would feast on the tra­di­tion­al Christ­mas fare includ­ing lute­fisk (for the adults) with white sauce and clar­i­fied but­ter, pota­to sausage for the rest, boiled pota­toes, corn, sweet pota­to casse­role (with marsh­mal­lows, always with marsh­mal­lows), lime jel­lo cot­tage cheese and wal­nut sal­ad (or green, red and white three lay­ered jel­lo sal­ad), and ost ka ka (Swedish curd/cheese cake.) All was a feast for the eye as well as the stom­ach. 

And for dessert, there was a big bowl of Rice Pud­ding topped with light, foamy meringue with­in which a sin­gle good luck almond had been hid­den. The bowl was passed around the table for each to serve him­self and the per­son lucky enough scoop up the almond will see a good year ahead. This tra­di­tion con­tin­ues to this day and we still use Grandma’s (now Aunt Signe’s) recipe.

The table is with my son and his family.

Priscil­la Hill sets her Swedish Christ­mas table and makes her rice pud­ding in north­west­ern Wis­con­sin near where she grew up.

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