December 25, 2004

God Jul / Feliz Navidad, etc.

Good morning to you all and a merry Christmas! We have had our combination Norwegian/Guatemalan Jul/Navidad. Christmas Breakfast is in 15 minutes so I have just a little time to write. Jul is, in my wife's family, all about the food. Norwegians celebrate Christmas, or Jul, on Christmas Eve. That is when the gifts are exchanged and the traditional food is consumed or at least kicked off. We had the very traditional foods in a tropical setting.

We started at 12 with grøt. Grøt is a rice porridge to which sugar and butter and cinnamon is added to each bowl. An almond is hidden in one of the bowls and the lucky almond finder is rewarded with a pig made entirely from marzipan. The election this year was rigged and the Girl Child was the happy beneficiary of the electoral corruption. She promptly ate the pig's legs and hid the remainer under one of the couches in the living room. I found it later.

Dinner kicked off at 5 or so with the super heavy Ribbe. Ribbe is a cut of pork with ribs and very crunchy skin and fat bits. It is eaten also with Medistercaker (a kind of meatball) and Julepolser (a sausage). Side dishes included red cabbage and sour cabbage, stringbeans, taters, and maybe something else. Drink? Aquavit and beer. I will say merely that when I got up from the table, I seriously considered passing out as a sensible option. Too much aquavit, perhaps. Oh, and a meal fit for a Norwegian farmer eating in the dead of Winter which is instead being eaten by a lawyer in the heat of Guatemala. Not a natural translation, it seems to me.

One of my sisters in law dressed up as Julenissen (Santa Claus) and scared the living daylights out of the Boy Child. He regarded the front door with great suspicion from that point forward in the evening.

Hope your holiday was equally fun! Off to more aquavit and beer for breakfast, now!

Posted by Random Penseur at December 25, 2004 10:00 AM
Comments

Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad to you and your family as well, Random!

It's Christmas morning here and I have a house filled with sleeping family members from out of town. I'm preparing the Bird for stuffing while Dan is making breakfast for 12. A terribly American repast of eggs, taters, bacon, sausage and some kind of ham/egg concoction Dan saw on TV and wants to try on my poor unsuspecting family. ;-) Oh, and mimosas, of course!

But I would LOVE to try all the foods you just talked about! It all sounds so exotic and yummy. But if I tried to change the traditional food we eat for Christmas here, I'd have a riot on my hands. ;-)

Cute about the Boy Child watching the door for the "Scary Santa". Hope you had/have a fabulous day!

Posted by: Amber at December 25, 2004 11:43 AM

Yum! Will be feasting on more traditional fare myself in few hours. Merry Christmas, RP!

Posted by: Tuning Spork at December 25, 2004 01:25 PM

Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, RP!! Here in the southland it is warm and wonderful. Christmas lunch with a good friend will be in several hours. I really like this slower type of Christmas activity. Last night I went to a wonderful Christmas Eve party. Met lots of interesting and fun people who were charming. I drove home bathed in the wonderment of it all.
Best to you and yours on the joyous occasion!
Azalea
PS: One of my nephews actually sent me a Christmas morning greeting from St. Thomas. Amazing, I believe that he is actually growing up.

Posted by: Azalea at December 25, 2004 02:39 PM

Mkay... I think I could get behind a holiday tradition in which Aquavit and beer is consumed for breakfast.

We pretty much do the Christmas Watusi on the Eve and then spend Christmas day playing with the loot. :) For the past three years, we would spend Christmas day watching the new LOTR movie (and last year was the new Harry Potter) but this year, we just didn't have anything we wanted to get out of bed to watch.

Anyway. You don't care about any of that. This whole message was to say hello and Merpy Chriskwanzukkah. Did I mention that my son bought me a whole bag of Starbucks Christmas Blend and that I love it and that I've had about six pots between yesterday and this morning?

Did you know that you can eat it right out of the bag?

Heh.

xoxo
M

Posted by: Margi at December 25, 2004 03:21 PM
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