Tag: Christmas

Posted on by — 1 Comment

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The holiday season is upon us. For me, it’s such a meaningful time of year. Candlelit Christmas Eve services filled with pomp and music. The traditions of baking old family recipes, caroling through the neighborhood, sipping hot cocoa, decorating the Christmas tree, hanging stars in the windows; these are dear to my heart. In the same vein, the designs I painted for this year’s holiday series have a special significance for me.

Deer

The animal I chose to paint this year is a stag with a grand rack of horns. Grand racks seem to be all over the place in holiday art. I initially think of the reindeer that pull Santa’s sleigh, but then my mind quickly goes to the stags that are included in many Scandinavian motifs. From knitted Christmas stockings to Swedish straw decorations to cut-out sugar cookies, a buck with large horns seems ubiquitous.

Fraser Fir Tree

The fraser fir also seemed fitting for this year’s collection. Our family has made a tradition of heading out to the local tree farm and cutting down our Christmas tree. This has most often involved gathering the kiddos, bundling them up in warm gear, and sipping on hot chocolate on a chilly early December day. The fraser fir tree has been our tree of choice for the last number of years because of its sturdy limbs, soft needles, and classic Christmas tree shape.

Poinsettia

Poinsettia and I go way back to my childhood in Madagascar, where poinsettia thrives in the landscape. The climate is perfect for it, so it grows tall and wide. Imagine a line of brilliant red-leafed poinsettias the size of large bushes or small trees lining your driveway. They naturally bloom around Christmas time. Spectacular; that’s what poinsettias are!

Dala horse

You all know by now that I cherish my Scandinavian heritage and its traditions. Living in the north country, many winter days find me wearing a cozy Norwegian sweater. A birch wood hand carved star hangs in my window, welcoming visitors to come in and have a spot of something sweet and a warm cup of coffee. Among the many heritage pieces in my home, the Dala horse stands proudly on the desk in my kitchen. It is a simple yet carefully crafted tchotchke that brings nostalgia into my home.

The Dala horse I painted for this collection has a long history, dating back to the 1600s in Sweden where they were given as gifts and used as toys for children. Down through the years, this horse has become a symbol for Sweden and for the region of Darlarna specifically. After being cut out into the horse shape, the horses are hand whittled, dipped in several coats of paint, polished smooth, and then hand painted by artisans.

The nights are getting chilly and the days shorter. We are speeding closer to the cold yet cozy days of the new year. This is the time when outdoor tasks are buttoned up, to be returned to in the spring.

The Christmas season is for celebrating, remembering, and treasuring. Remembering and celebrating the birth of the Christ child and holding this gift near to our hearts. But also celebrating the traditions of the season, remembering our loved ones, gathering them close, and treasuring them as the precious gifts that they are. Merry Christmas to each of you this holiday season!

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Seeking Simplicity in the Christmas Season 

The dusk is crystal and cold, the skyline rose colored. Tree branches etch their way across the sky. The white snow and black branches create a quiet starkness that has a beauty all its own.  It’s the beauty of December, of snowy wintertime, of the holidays, of the Christmas season. 

As the sun disappears below the horizon, a million tiny Christmas lights shout of joy and warmth amid the chilly darkness of the subzero world outside. They are beacons calling us inside, where a mug of hot cider and a plate of holiday sweets awaits. The warm cinnamon-laced elixir is the perfect antidote to make us toasty on the inside.

The Traditions of Christmas

From the time when I was a little girl, December has been a month meant for memory making.

Being both of Midwestern and Scandinavian heritage, our home glows with candles to counter the darkness outside. We fill the kitchen with the smells of the season, of cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon, of sweet breads baking in the oven, and of the rich, heady aroma of Swedish meatballs cooking on the stovetop.

The tunes coming through the speakers skip between classical Christmas and my favorite jazz bands’ renditions of similar tunes. At some point in the month, we’ll form a caroling group and travel the neighborhoods, singing Christmas carols as we go. Concerts and ballets are usually standard fare. 

Music and food seem essential to my family’s traditions, but these are inconsequential unless shared with friends and loved ones. And so we gather at our homes, in our churches, in concert halls, and at restaurants. We eat, we sing, and we worship, drawn together to celebrate the reason for the season, the birth of the Christ child. 

Encircling ourselves with family and the traditions we hold dear offers a deep sense of peace. This then becomes refreshed again each December. Possibly from the sentimentality, this year, all the hallmarks seem heightened. The lights shine brighter, the caramels taste sweeter, the Nutcracker Suite is even more beautiful and poignant than I remember.

How to Find Peace in the Chaos

An eternal struggle as we navigate the holiday season is how to maintain calmness. How to not get swept up in the busyness of shopping and preparing to host family and friends. Over the last few years, I’ve made a point of intentionally choosing the important aspects of the season and not getting caught up in the fluff. 

1. Think Ahead

To this end, I try to do my shopping for gifts all through the year. When I come across the perfect gift for someone in my life, and it’s only July, I buy it and tuck it away. This way when the Christmas season rolls around, I already have most of my gifts, and I only need to wrap them.

2. Scale Back, but Keep What’s Important

Another strategy for managing the stresses of the season is to scale back the amount of Christmas baking and preparation you do. Choose only the favorites, and abandon the rest. I still bake to give, just not as much to keep. 

As I’ve aged, I’ve reconciled myself with the folly of filling myself with holiday treats only to adopt the (mostly failed) strict New Year’s resolutions that include dieting and exercise. As a way to follow through on this simplification, I divide the need-to-have Christmas delicacies into two categories: heritage treats and purely delicious (and thus have-to-make) treats. 

My family’s heritage treats include lefse, krumkake, ginger snaps, sugar cookies, yulekake, and sometimes butter balls. The can’t-do-without-because-they’re-so-amazing cookies include (but aren’t limited to) browned butter spoon cookies, peanut butter kiss cookies, and sea salt caramels. I’m always a sucker for great fudge and homemade peanut brittle, so those are on an alternate list. 

I think back to the days when a homemade gingerbread house was an annual necessity. Those times have definitely gone by the wayside. Only the most delectable treats make the cut these days.

3. Spend Time Soaking in the Season

By taking a look at those activities that bring meaning to me, and leaving the rest behind, it’s possible to clear your holiday palate, so to speak. I have created openings in my schedule to go to a midweek Advent service, take a stroll through downtown to enjoy the Christmas lights, and sit and watch the cardinals, nuthatches, woodpeckers, and slate colored juncos fight over their spots at the bird feeders. For me, these are activities that feed my soul. 

Similarly to those who have gone before me, it is with excitement and intention that I look forward to times with family and friends, building memories to last into future generations. Memories complete with coffee and a spot of something sweet …

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Introducing the 2022 Holiday Greeting Cards

As the Christmas season nears, I wanted to share the stories that shaped this year’s collection of holiday greeting cards...

Pinecone

It was autumn on the shores of Lake Tahoe. As we walked along the path that bordered the lake, majestic pine trees rose grandly all around us. As we ventured through the trees, we stumbled upon some of the most beautiful pinecones I had ever seen. Upon investigation, I discovered these pinecones belonged to the Jeffrey’s pine, a close relative of the Ponderosa pine. Jeffrey’s pine trees are found in a long strip from Oregon to northern Baja California in Mexico, at higher elevations, and in my case, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

We gathered as many of these gorgeous, chunky pine cones as we could fit in our car. Draped in twinkle lights, along with sugar pine cones, they have since graced my fireplace mantle every Christmas. Interspersed with candle votives, wax-dipped pinecones, and Christmas tree balls, Jeffrey’s pinecones create the calming holiday ambiance I seek during a busy holiday season.

Pomegranate

As soon as the calendar flips to December, I get in the mood for all things pomegranate. Fresh pomegranates await in my fruit bowl, ready to garnish a variety of dishes. These ruby seeds find their way into my cocktails, salads, and hors d’oeuvres boards. I use reduced pomegranate juice in glazes for meats and in several sauces and braises I make over the holiday season.

Pomegranates are one of the quintessential Christmas fruits, bringing a crunchy zing to any dish. They were an obvious choice for including in my holiday greeting cards this year.

Holly

Holly, the shiny-leafed evergreen, is one of my favorite Christmas plants. On a stark winter day, their bright green leaves and red berries remind us that spring will come again. The plant’s thorny points that encircle the leaves and bright berries give a distinctive look that enhances any holiday bouquet. It’s my hope that this year’s holly wreath design will brighten your holiday and remind you of the life and love ever present in this season.

Nuthatch

Red-breasted nuthatches are a darling and quirky little bird. All winter they flit around our yard, moving between our bird feeder, where they eat upside down, and our massive pine tree, where they run up and down the trunk looking for bugs underneath the tree’s bark.

The nuthatch’s upside-down view of life helps find bugs that are missed by birds that only look at things from a right-side up perspective. Nuthatches may be small, but they fiercely defend themselves and their young against larger predators, such as hawks, woodpeckers, owls, and squirrels.

The spirited personalities of nuthatches mesmerizes me and keeps me returning to the window to watch them. Acrobatic, agile, and loud they surely are. They’re in and out, up and down, back and forth. This amusing and energetic northern bird is a pleasure to include in this year’s holiday collection

Red Pine

As a young girl, I spent my days building forts, playing hide and seek, and picking wild blueberries in the shadows of the great red pines. You see, for many years of my childhood, my playground was a vast forest of red pines in northern Minnesota, where they’re uniquely known as Norway pines. The ubiquitous Norway pine tree is Minnesota’s state tree. With its top-heavy nature, the Norway pine doesn’t resemble your stereotypical conifer.

There are a few distinctive things about northern Minnesota, pine forests and lakes being two of them. Oh, and those -20°F winters! Minnesota is called the land of 10,000 lakes, but it could as easily be called the land of 10,000 Norway pine trees, except it’s probably closer to a million.

These tall majestic trees can grow to heights of 150 feet with straight trunks that often grow to three feet in diameter. When young, they are a popular choice to use as a Christmas tree. This variety of pine is self pruning, which leads to a large percentage of the bottom of the trunk having no branches. In turn, they open up the forest floor, which leaves lots of space for fort building!

Conifer forests of one sort or another have played important roles in my life, whether it’s the lodgepole pines of the Absaroka Beartooth mountain range in southern Montana, the ponderosa pines that scattered across my property in Colorado, or the Norway pines of my youth. When thinking about which conifer to paint for this year’s holiday collection, the red pine quickly rose to the top of the list.

The Holiday Greeting Cards

It is with joy that I offer you this year’s holiday collection of greeting cards. It is my hope that they inspire you to slow down and savor the season. Take a moment to look out the window and watch the winter birds skitter about. Breathe in the pine scent of your Christmas tree. Sip on that pomegranate martini. Light the votives on your holly and pinecone-laden mantle. And through it all, remember what’s truly important in life, and hold them a little closer.

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Persimmon – The Unsung Holiday Fruit

Holiday Memories

As I dipped my spoon into the steamy rust-colored persimmon pudding, the rich, spicy aroma wafted from the dish. A little of the accompanying cream ran into my spoon and mixed with the pudding. The flavor of this unique fruit and dessert signify the holidays for me. 

For many years my sister-in-law, an Indiana native, has given me the gift of a tub of Indiana wild persimmon paste. It usually arrives in the fall, typically just before Thanksgiving. My favorite thing to do with this paste is to turn it into persimmon pudding. I have tended to make this delicious pudding as one of the desserts for Thanksgiving dinner. When served warm with a bit of fresh cream overtop, it is divine. 

What is a Persimmon?

American persimmons are native to southern Indiana and ripen in September and October, making them the perfect holiday fruit. When ripe, their flavor is nicely sweet in a complex sort of way.

Unfortunately for me, I don’t live in a part of the country where persimmons grow, so I pick them up in the grocery stores, which are currently carrying both the Fuyu and Hachiya varieties.

This year I’ve decided to branch out and mess around with using persimmons in other ways. The Fuyu variety I purchased this year is still firm when they are ripe, so I figured they would hold up well when roasted or broiled. The oven heat will serve to concentrate the flavors and amp up their already sweet nature. 

Roasted Persimmon Salad

I start by slicing one of the persimmons into thin wedges. Then I brush the wedges with olive oil and roast them in a high heat oven (425 degrees F) until they turn brown on the edges. 

While these are roasting, I whisk together a citrus/olive oil vinaigrette, slice some roasted beets and a clementine. Once the persimmons are ready, I arrange all the components on plates. I add Lacinato kale and microgreens and then drizzle vinaigrette over the top. Crushed black pepper and chunky sea salt round out the dish. This gorgeous deconstructed salad will serve as the first course at one of my holiday dinners. 

Broiled Persimmons

Let’s now move on to my next idea, broiling them much like I would fresh plums. For this I take slices of a crusty baguette and top each slice with a piece of soft triple cream cheese. I then place a thin sliver of fresh persimmon on top. I again brush the persimmon with olive oil. 

To add a little sweet crunch, I sprinkle on a bit of raw sugar. I place them under the broiler, and a few minutes later out come the prettiest crostini I have seen in a long time. The sweet roasted fruit proved to be a great counter to the pungent cheese. A new go-to hors d’oeuvres is born.

Spilling Persimmons Over Goat Cheese

The inspiration keeps flowing with my next plan for my persimmons. I love warm spilling fruits. For this I usually take fruits like plums, pears, peaches, or berries and combine them with sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. After gently simmering them for a few minutes on the stove, the fruit breaks down and forms the most delectable sauce. 

I can use these spilling sauces over a myriad of dishes including pound cakes or olive oil cakes, cheesecake or panna cotta, goat or brie cheese, or prosciutto on a savory tart. I can also use it as a marinade and dipping sauce for roasted pork or chicken. 

It turns out that persimmons lend themselves perfectly to this application. When simmered with a little sugar, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and then pureed with the stick blender, the persimmons make the prettiest and most delicious sauce. I spoon some over a log of goat cheese and serve it with baguette slices. What a perfect start to my holiday culinary journey.

So the Creating Continues 

Persimmons, a seemingly forgotten fruit, prove to be versatile, delicious, and beautiful. They have definitely earned a place in my holiday repertoire alongside the other winter fruits such as pomegranates, oranges, pears, and grapefruit. They have even made an appearance in my newly released holiday card collection. I’m sure I’ll be dreaming up other dishes with this fruit soon. Dehydrated persimmon chips, persimmon salsa chutney, fruit leathers, persimmon jam, persimmon sorbet, persimmon cocktails… Persimmon prosciutto pizza, anyone?

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Tokens of Christmas Warmth

Spoon Cookies

The night is waning; dawn has not yet arrived. Pats of unsalted butter melt in the saucepan. With a silicone scraper, I stir back and forth across the bottom, watching the butter carefully. First the surface bubbles, and then a thick foam forms. Finally, I smell it, the nutty aroma of beurre noisette or brown butter. I quickly transfer the pan to a sink of cold water to stop the cooking. I am in the kitchen making my favorite and most time-consuming Christmas cookie, spoon cookies. 

IMG_4149 (2)
Beurre noisette or brown butter

Spoon cookies are so named for the spoon that forms their shape. It must be an old silver spoon. These ancient beauties have deep bowls, so they work perfectly for filling with cookie dough. This morning, the favored teaspoon came from my Aunt Ada. Its smooth surface aids in helping the pressed cookie easily slide onto the cookie sheet. As I fill, press, and slide the cookie dough, my mind drifts back to memories of the generation that went before mine. They were children of immigrants, their lives steeped in traditions from the old country. These are traditions I have come to cherish, traditions I try to teach to those in my life.

After placing the tray into the oven to bake, I warm raspberry jam on the stove. Once strained, a smear of this jam will serve as a delicious glue between two baked cookies, forming what in the end looks a bit like a little egg. Each Christmas season, I look forward to the complex taste of the nutty beurre noisette against the sweet jam.

Caramels

Next on the agenda are caramels. Creamy and sweet, these are another labor intensive favorite. Between you, me, and the fence post, they have proved a challenge for me to perfect. Each time I make them, I seem to discover another idiosyncrasy of these delicious candies. This year’s batch, while a delicious and rich confection of sugar, butter, and cream, is a touch on the chewy side, which I of course blame on my ancient candy thermometer. 

Yulekage: Christmas Bread

Next up, Yulekage. A favorite Scandinavian spice, cardamom, enlivens this tender sweet Christmas bread. To amp up the flavor, I always freshly grind my cardamom for this recipe. This distinctive spice together with the mix of golden and red raisins and topped with a crest of luscious frosting makes for a festive bread indeed. Thanks to the magnitude of the recipe, eighteen loaves have already left my kitchen to date, and this bread is my go-to baked Christmas gift. 

IMG_4652 (2)

Lefse

I would be remiss if I failed to mention the ubiquitous Norwegian delicacy, lefse. This potato-based flatbread defines December menus in the north country. It has to be paper thin, soft with light brown spots scattered across its surface, and with tiny dots of Russet potatoes. Lefse-making is a two-day affair that should be embarked on just before your kitchen needs a deep cleaning. Trust me, I know whereof I speak…  

Cookies Et Alia

Other gems that might make their appearance in my comestible gifting include my Aunt Joyce’s thin sugary ginger snaps, my brother-in-law Bill’s butter balls, nutmeg-laden Kranse Kake, and crisp, frosted sugar cookies. The list could go on, but the variety and supply of goodies depends on how much the schedule expands in early December.

IMG_4574 (2)

A Modicum of Our Christmas Joy

Why do we go through these tasks in the holiday season? What is the reason we shop and wrap, cook and bake, and assemble trays and tins to pass out to family, friends, and neighbors? Why do we put in the additional effort to make things extra special? The Christmas season is already a busy time of year, yet we add to it by making such effortful goodies to give to others.

IMG_4596 (2)

There are many people in my life who hold a special place. Some are family, some are friends. It just seems that in this unlikeliest of seasons, the coldest, darkest days of winter, when we grace others with an act of kindness, a small array of culinary delights, we offer them a modicum of our joy. We are saying the world is better because of their presence in it. We are saying you are important to me. In giving something of ourselves to others, whether it’s our time, our talents, created gifts, or purchased items, we are telling them they are significant and special. 

I will always get up before dawn or stay up into the wee hours to create tokens of my affection for those I hold dear.  

Posted on by — 3 Comments

Savoring our sweet hygge

The snap and pop of a fire in the hearth, the twinkle of lights on the mantle, a steaming mug of cocoa, Wynton Marsalis playing a jazz version of “Winter Wonderland,” candles burning; these are the sights and sounds of hygge in December in the north. Cinnamon, cardamom, pine, nutmeg, apple, ginger, bread baking; these are the aromas that linger.

IMG_2451 (2)

A Scandinavian Christmas

In our house Nordic traditions include round after round of tender lefse coming off the grill, savory Swedish meatballs with lingonberries providing a sweet counter, a delicately carved rosewood crèche on the side table, the rich scent of Yulekake and cardamom buns baking in the oven, gingersnaps cooling on the counter. Smoked salmon, Jarlsburg cheese, and pâté made of goat cheese and dill served on thin crisps of rye bread. Glasses of eggnog or hot buttered rum are raised in toast.

Tis the season to be cozy and warm, to create hygge in our homes and lifestyle. Hygge is the Scandinavian (particularly Danish) way of simplifying to create a cozy sense of well being. Choosing the essential and eliminating the unnecessary. Sometimes the build up of to-do lists, parties, and the tasks that we take on to make the season that much more special actually detract from its beauty.

IMG_2510 (2)

Charming simplicity

The seasonal starkness has a beauty all its own. As I sit writing in the dusky dawn gazing out at the grey outdoor light and then at the flickering amber candle, I cannot help but think of my ancestors who hailed from above the Arctic Circle. Did they love this diminished daylight as much as I do? Cloudy skies the color of Tahitian pearls. Our ornament-laden Christmas tree virtually glows in this milky light.

What is it about the wintry north, where absence has a reverse effect of heightening our appreciation of what we do have? This is nature’s version of hygge. When the sun emerges on those crystalline December mornings, the crunch of snow beneath our steps is louder, the song of the ruby cardinal on a far off branch is music we dance to, the diamond-like sparkle of frost takes our breath away. I’ve often thought necessity inspires creativity. The need for warmth became the beautiful and intricate Norwegian sweater, where the more involved the Fair Isle design, the more layers of yarn used, resulting in an almost opulent but necessary coziness.

IMG_2949 (2)

Subtraction becomes resplendent multiplication. Friendships seem to matter more. We linger longer over coffee and conversation. Friends gather and sip from hot cups of soup. We roast and bake and share with others. The gratefulness on the faces of needy neighbors when presented with a loaf of bread fresh from the oven warms our souls more than any down jacket could.

Treasured tradition

The dark cold months focus our priorities. It seems that in the lush green of other seasons we venture into the unknown. We try new activities, taste new foods, travel to new places, establish new goals, or start new habits. But at the holidays, we treasure the tried, the true, the traditions that we hold dear. For me this means remembering the Christ Child’s birth, singing favorite carols, preparing time-honored foods, hearing the crackle of Ponderosa Pine logs burning in the fireplace, smelling the heady aroma of roasting meats, listening to Handel’s Messiah, or hearing the ringing sound of handbell choirs.

Music runs along the season as a common thread. Christmas tunes play everywhere. When walking down Main Street or in the grocery aisle, we are constantly serenaded. We are cheered. I find myself flitting from inspirational John Rutter choral pieces to the nostalgic Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, then on to the husky voice of Louis Armstrong or the peaceful sound of Laurance Jube playing his guitar.

Embracing the season 

Apart from the other times of the year, the cold winter tranquility stirs passion and a strong sense of fearlessness in our souls. We venture out into the brisk nights bundled up in our coats and boots, the biting winds and looming darkness unable to dampen our spirits. Then after a long, full day, we nestle into the warmth of our homes to soak in the sounds, smells, and beautiful sights that define the serenity of the season.

Winter, December, waiting, Christmas, laughter, darkness, stockings on the mantle, Advent candles, baby Jesus, cold, joy, warm sweaters, ice skating, Christmas concerts, red velvet, snow, white fur, Kransekake, light, bells, icicles, kindness, gingerbread houses, shearling slippers, cedar and holly garland. So many indispensable words, these words of the season.

This year I have whittled and parsed all the while clarifying. The essence of my own Christmas season becomes a marriage of the most unsuspecting companions. The pairings of cold and family leads to memories created. Elimination of the unnecessary makes for times all the more treasured thanks to their poignant simplicity. This is my holiday hygge.