~~On Christmas Eve~~

In Scandinavian countries, the big feast was on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day was a day for going to church and relaxing 

at home.  It's a custom we still observe in the same way

my mother did.  It was a plain meal and until grown children 

began changing it with likes and dislikes of their own,

it was the same every year.

Flaky boiled potatoes; lutefisk piled high on a white platter;

potato sausage piled even higher on a smaller platter;

milk gravy plain and milk gravy with homemade mustard;

I'm sure there was a vegetable but I have no memory of it-

my plate was already filled; white buns and rye bread with

raisins; jellies and pickles and homemade root beer.

And for dessert, always rice pudding with raisins and one

single almond.  Whoever got the almond in his serving

would be the next to marry.

Now, two and even three generations removed from that

household, it's still the same.  Never are the dishes done so

quickly and the last of the leftovers whisked away so quickly

as on Christmas Eve!  For it was time to go into the parlor,

one of the few times in winter that the room was opened

and the radiator turned on. One by one, the tongues of flame

 danced on the candles as they leaned out on the tips of

 each bough.  And one by one the presents under the tree 

were passed around.

                    Connie