It's already time to start to worry about hosting our first full-family Christmas!

[cimorene]

Our adorable little house has enough space (though not, as yet, enough chairs) for the six adults, five teenagers, and one child in waxjism's family, and in fact that's one of the reasons we and Wax's mom bought this house in the first place; MIL and I were planning this from the start, but after her sudden death in 2019, this year will be the first time we manage to actually do it.

That's Christmas Eve dinner in Finland, which is the main holiday here in the Nordic countries, and is primarily a big early-afternoon feast.

waxjism family's Swedish-Finnish Christmas Eve feast menu

• roast ham (or appropriate substitute, such as an entire chicken - we tried that one year but it was too much work. I don't eat this and neither does one of my SILs.)


• mutton- or turkey-roll (a traditional Scandi cold cut - Wax's mom always had lamb and in recent years we have had turkey brought by Wax's brother)


• massive salad, somewhat fancy (Wax's mom's go-to was fresh fig, walnut, and grapefruit with an orange dressing; we skipped it in between but are planning to do it this year)


• either boiled potatoes or creamy mashed potatoes (Wax and I took over potatoes about 10 years ago and swapped to creamy mashed potatoes to universal acclaim)


• Herring salad/rosolli (NB that Finnish herring salad, unlike Swedish and Norwegian, doesn't contain herring anymore. Or mayonnaise. It's a massive amount of pickled beets and whipping cream mostly, and it's truly bizarre)


• homemade bread, butter, lutfisk (cod pickled in lye) and gravlax (cold-cured salmon). Wax DOES like lutfisk, which is commonly considered disgusting by non-Scandis, but it's not as popular and we have stopped having it every year at her family gatherings because nobody else in the family likes it and it stinks up the house.


• a green side dish - Wax's mom used to make these fancy little petit-four looking things with stewed mushrooms and spinach that were piped into these little rosette shapes. We are likely to just have roasted seasoned broccoli or green beans.


• Carrot casserole, rutabaga casserole, and potato casserole, standard Finnish Christmas dishes. You can buy these at the store and just bake them yourself; they are commonly thought to be just as good as homemade. Wax likes them. I can take or leave them. They are fundamentally rather sweet.


• Red and white wine


• Traditionally (for Swedes and Finland Swedes - NOT for Finns!) snaps for snapsvisor, but we haven't had these in our family gatherings since Carmela, now 18, was a toddler. I guess once the youngest child, now 10, is a bit older, they will probably be reintroduced.


• Wax is now a cake hobbyist and will be making a mousse cake and a bundt cake, because obviously, the full family is your most important audience with a hobby like that and the opportunity can't be missed.

Glögg, a Nordic mulled wine that features traditional warming spices and usually blackcurrant juice and is served hot with almonds and raisins in the glass, is served after dinner along with Swedish gingerbread cookies, American sugar cookies (these are the standard Christmas cookies from my childhood), and homemade candy while everyone opens presents together.

So we need to orchestrate the purchase and defrosting and roasting of the ham this year, because it's at our house and that takes so much time, even though we've never done it before, as well as the white wine, salad, herring salad, potatoes, green vegetables, and all the stuff that has to be warmed in the oven, and also the (in advance) preparation of 1-2 types of cookies, 2 cakes, fudge, and chocolate pretzel sticks. And a Christmas tree, which needs to be a tabletop one to keep it bunny-proof. We've already had a mishap and bought a too-small frozen ham that we're gonna have to exchange, so that's off to a great start.

Also our dining room still has the emergency backup curtains hanging and the designer curtain fabric we picked out languishing on a shelf, waiting to be hemmed into curtains.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

Hope you enjoy and it's not too crazy making!

[cimorene]

I'm trying to brace myself. And also to plan as much as possible in advance, although it remains to be seen how that works...

[which_chick]

Lots of organizing for that sort of a feast. Can you share your recipe for Swedish Gingerbread Cookies? They sound ... interesting. (I typically make Moravian Spice Cookies for the holidays and they're a dry, thin, crisp cookie that is more complex than most. Recipe and detailed instructions here.)

Ronneby pepparkakor

[waxjism]

This is the recipe my mother used. "Ronneby pepparkakor" is a common recipe you can find by googling, but idk how similar all the versions are. It seems to be commonly held to be the best gingerbread recipe, for whatever value that measures. Not recommended for gingerbread house construction, since it favours flavour over structural integrity.

200 g (3/4 cup) butter
150 ml (10 Tbsp) dark treacle (or molasses if you're American, but be aware that molasses has a stronger flavour)
1 tsp ginger
2 eggs
400 g (2 cups) sugar
1 Tbsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
650 g (4 ½ cups) flour
1½ tsp baking soda/sodium bicarbonate


Melt butter, syrup, and spices over low heat on the stovetop. Mix eggs and sugar well, then add butter mixture and blend well. Mix the soda with a portion of the flour and blend into the batter. Then gradually add more flour until dough is very firm. Texture should be extremely thick and extremely sticky. Cover bowl and refrigerate at least 24 hours, typically a couple of days.


Roll out extremely thin with as much flour as needed to prevent sticking. Dough should be strong enough to roll out almost paper-thin. Cut out (stars, hearts, tree shapes, animals, "gingerbread man" shapes or whatever) and lift cookies carefully onto baking sheets with plenty of space in between, as they expand during baking. Bake at 200°C/400°F about 4-6 minutes, until they just start to darken at the edges. Cool thoroughly. Decorate with glacé icing or royal icing if you want to be fancy.

Note that this recipe makes A Lot of cookies, as it's meant for the whole family through Christmas. Pepparkakor is the very foundation of Christmas around here, so everyone's constantly snacking on them in between other meals.

Re: Ronneby pepparkakor

[which_chick]

Thank you! These sound like cookies my people will like. Thin, crispy, probably go well with coffee and tea. I will give them a whirl. My holiday cookie-baking generally happens a week or two before Christmas and I will post an update at that point. Kind of excited to have a new cookie to try for this year. :)

[laurenthemself]

How exciting to finally be able to host this family gathering! It's a shame that your MIL can't be there considering that was one of the reasons that you bought the house.

The menu sounds amazing. The turkey roll sounds much more interesting than just a baked turkey, though if I'm honest I really enjoy our cold evening meal more than the hot lunch that's our Xmas tradition.

The family are in for a treat with Wax's cake prowess!

Also oh wow I totally hear you on the curtain fabric front. In my case it's the bedroom, and I want to replace the old roller blind and heavy floral swag with some lighter weight blackout curtains, to help Danny with sleeping during the day when he's on night shift. I have everything to do it except the motivation!

[cimorene]

There's usually not really an evening meal on Christmas eve, just a sort of right-before-bed snack of cold leftovers. The main meal that starts in the afternoon lasts towards early evening and by the time you're done with presents it's fairly late.

Personally, I do like cold roasted turkey better than the original turkey the way it's served from a roast the first meal, but I don't eat the ham so I end up having lots of mashed potatoes, veggies, and salad. I don't know if I've tasted the turkey roll actually - I may not have noticed that it wasn't mutton anymore and hence that I could eat it.