Should You Eat the Yellow Part of Snow Pudding?

The week before Christmas weather blew in to make sure it was a white Christmas in Connecticut.  It was stormy enough on Sunday morning that churches throughout the area cancelled their Christmas Sunday services—although this never happened to us when we lived through many snow storms in Vermont we need to remember that this is the southern part of New England.

It stayed cold through the week so there was plenty of snow for Jess to see when she arrived on Wednesday.  She caught a red-eye flight out of Phoenix on Tuesday night and fortunately she was able to upgrade on the flight and able to sleep on the plane. Calvin was glad to see Jess and spends time following her around.  He also likes that someone waits on him and occasionally gives him some treats.

Nana and Papa also arrived on Wednesday so the house started to have the fuller feeling of a holiday.  Sarah obviously couldn’t make the trip from OZ but we were able to have some video calls with her—using Skype—over the past few days.  Not the same as being here, but it sure was great to see and speak with both Sarah and Andrew.

On Christmas Eve morning Nana and Papa woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep.  So they stayed up and made the oyster stew for us to enjoy later that day.  Jess and I also got up early and headed to the gym for a core-strength and stretching class.  Much of the rest of the day was spent doing last minute errands—picking up the beef for the Christmas dinner—and putting together the last touches for Christmas Day.

The Christmas Eve service—not enough cold or snow to stop this service—was very well attended.  We took our normal balcony seats—we sit up there so we can see Cheri ring bells—and it is nice to look down over the congregation, particularly when everyone lights their candle and sings Silent Night.

Following the service Nana and Papa headed back to the house while the rest of us went to Jamie and Martha’s house for a Christmas Eve celebration.  There was great food and company and we ended staying well into Christmas morning playing games and visiting before heading back home.

The next morning we were not up as early as when there were younger—much younger—people in the house.  While some final breakfast preparations were made, some of us also took some time to catch up on events in the newspaper.  Then it was time to move in by the fireplace, make sure Nana was warm enough and open stocking gifts.  Santa was able to make it to Connecticut overnight and the stockings were overflowing.  Although some coal was expected in some of the stockings we must have been just nice enough to avoid that fate.

Following stocking time we moved back into the kitchen for one of our family Christmas morning traditions…eggs benedict.

It was a team effort getting breakfast ready.  The hollandaise sauce was made up fresh, english muffins toasted and smeared with cream cheese, the Canadian bacon heated and eggs poached—to the runny yolk stage…which is the best.  A fruit salad was made up the day before (and refrigerated…just in case you are concerned) and as everything was plated the presentation was very festive.  The black specks are fresh ground pepper and the orange specks are Aelea Sea Salt from Hawaii.

A couple of us acted as elves—Santa’s Helpers—in getting the presents out from under the tree.

After satisfying ourselves with a great breakfast we took the time to set up the gorilla tripod and get a group picture before getting the presents out from under the tree. Of course this meant that some of us got to wait for the gifts to be delivered…one of those benefits of being the ‘senior’ members present.

It wasn’t much longer before the Whitney family arrived and we extended the celebration through the afternoon and into the evening.


We were also fortunate to be able to Skype with Sarah and Andrew while everyone was at our house.  There were some comical moments with the video call since Sarah was receiving the video with about a 90 second delay.  So although they could hear us in real time and we  could both hear and see them in real time, the video from the US followed a delay.  That meant we could tell her what to expect in the video or—as Tim did—someone could dance along behind Cheri while she was talking and then Sarah would start laughing more than a minute later.  Even with the technical difficulties it was great to see the two of them during our Christmas Day (it was already Boxing Day in OZ).

We had a great Christmas Dinner of prime rib, glazed carrots, sour cream hash-brown potatoes, and jello salad.  There were also a few bottles of wine enjoyed with the appetizers and the main meal. 

Too soon it was time for the Whitney Clan to head off to New Jersey, but fully understandable since they had been with Scott’s family since Tuesday.  It would be good for them to get home to spend some down time as a family.

The day after Boxing Day…

We were on the road to New Hampshire on Sunday to spend some Christmas time with the extended Swenson Family.  Bill and Sheila hosted this year’s event and a great smorgasbord was set out with contributions from many.

With so many family members around we did take some time for group photos (without our Sarah…but we did get a chance to talk to her and pass the phone around the gathering).
Of course some of the time was spent visiting, [more] cooking, knitting, or laying around having a ‘healthy swing’—one of Sheila’s Christmas gifts that we all lined up to try.
It was a wonderful evening and—not that we need it—a great reminder of family being together at Christmas.  A great Swenson Adventure to [almost] finish the year.

Dancing in the Streets

Winter weather is now fully with us.  Time to put out the bird-feeders and provide a little help to the animals now scrounging for food…except the squirrels…we are not encouraging the squirrels (see my earlier blog about squirrel bowling).

As a parting gift at our party last weekend we gave each guest a small bag of seed similar to the one above.  Just like tomten we can play our part and possibly bring ourselves some luck in the new year.  We have our niece Karin to thank for bringing this tradition to our family.

We started a bit of a whirling dervish on Friday evening.  As a fund raiser UMass Memorial has begun a Winter Ball and this was the kick-off event for our weekend.  This black tie event—Christmas red tie in my case—was held in the restored Mechanics Hall in Worcester.  Cheri looked gorgeous—as usual—in an evening dress and we tapped our way through the evening. 

The Ball included a VIP Reception into which we tap-danced our way.  Then it was on to a great dinner, live music, dancing, a silent auction and a live auction.

The evening was fun and we stayed fairly late considering we needed to get up early on Saturday to head off to America’s Game…

We are fortunate that Scott’s continued involvement with the Naval Academy Athletic Association gets him access to great seats.  So we were on the Club level with seats right in front of the Press Boxes.  Being in the last row of the Section was great since we could stand when we wanted without bothering anyone behind us.  The Brigade marched on—three hours before game time so the stands were not anywhere near full—and we stayed outside to watch that and then went inside to have some lunch prior to game time (while the Midshipmen and Cadets sat outside in the stands—go figure). From Winter Ball Football Weekend 2009 The end result was the same as the last eight years with Navy coming out on top.  Although Army seemed to make it a game going into half-time with a 3 – 0 lead; Navy came out firing for the second half and won 17 – 3.

We headed out from Woodstock at 6 a.m. with a quick stop in New Jersey to meet up with Papa, Scott and Deb.  Cheri stayed with Nana and Laura in the warm house in NJ while the rest of us were chauffeured by Scott to Philadelpia for the game.  It was a sunny but cool day with the temperatures in the high 30’s at game time and heading down…although it wasn’t too bad out of the wind. From where we parked we had to head through the forming up of the Brigade and the Corps to enter in to Lincoln Field.  We were able to find Tim in the formation (who was attending his final game as a Midshipman) and then we went in to find our seats. Also on the Club level we had access to a large indoor area with food stations and restrooms which allowed us to stay warm prior to the game and at half time. To see a little of the pre-game pageantry  you can double-click on the photo to the left and to see the football team coming on to the field double-click the photo below. From Winter Ball Football Weekend 2009 Following the game there was once again the moving tradition of singing the alma-maters with the teams standing respectfully in front of the other’s student body.

We met up with Tim following the game and headed out to Roy’s restaurant for dinner with his “friend” Kayla’s family.  It was a wonderful meal and the company was great for the victory dinner.

Scott drove us all back to NJ for the evening and it is back to Connecticut on Sunday.  Another successful adventure.

Foraging for Nuts, Fruits, Grains and Berries in the Mid-Winter

 
As long nights and short days set in we realized that it was time to celebrate the turning point of mid-winter—Lucia Day.  It wasn’t exactly the right day or mid-winter, but we needed to make do with holiday schedules.

Invitations went out to about thirty people a few weeks ago, and we ended up with twenty-one showing up.  Cheri had the last three days of the week off so she was able to spend time cleaning, decorating and cooking to get ready for the party.

We set out a buffet with Swedish food as the theme.  There was sillsalad (herring salad made with apples, beets and walnuts), roasted pepper cheesecake, Swedish cheese, and Swedish kottbullar (meatballs) for appetizers.  Then it was on to spiral cut ham, smoked salmon, (with a mustard-dill sauce), more meatballs (this time with a beef-sour cream gravy), cucumber salad, potatoes stewed in cream, Janssons Temptation (potatoes, Swedish anchovies, onions and cream), Holiday Fruit Soup, and glazed carrots.  All of the appetizers and buffet were accompanied by berry liquids (grapes in particular), glogg and punch. 

Card tables were set up in the large Keeping Room and one of the Front Rooms—the Scotch Room—so guests wouldn’t have to try eating out of their laps.

Guests ate and visited for a few hours enjoying the food and the company.

Then it was some clean up before moving on to Snow Pudding with custard sauce, along with pepparkarkor and candy-cane cookies for some dessert. It snowed a bit during the party and overnight so we woke up to  a wintery setting and the winter sun glowing through snow and ice covered branches.

Of course a Swedish theme would not be complete without some aquavit.  A couple of days earlier I set the bottle in a container with some holly, berries, baby’s breath and boxwood and then filled with water and set in the freezer.  The result is in the picture to the left. For those of you in warmer climates—and there are several of you—here is how nice the dusting of snow looks on the trees and in the front yard.  It was a cool crisp morning and a sign of what is coming when the days begin to lengthen again. ‘Tis winter now; the fallen snow Has left the heavens all coldly clear; Through leafless boughs the sharp winds blow, And all the earth lies dead and drear.                               - S. Longfellow