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Dining year in review 26

Wednesday, December 27, 2000 - North Shore News - 15

NORTH SHORE NEWS HOME

journey in
e and place

IT’s Dec. 27,

1900, in the

town of

Landsbro,

Sweden. The

mid-winter light

has slipped

from the land-

scape and taken

with it all the noises of the
day. All that remains of the
sun spills over the horizon
like melting butter. The snow
has a blue glow as if it has
absorbed the small amount
of light from the day.
Christmas — Jui — has just
gone by in the Jaeger house-
hold, although there are still
10 days to Twelfth Night.

Two weeks before, Lucia Day
would have been celebrated, and all
the oldest girls in Swedish house-
holds would have worn their crown
of candles and white dress and
served Lucia buns and coffee.

On Christmas Eve, although we
can’t be certain, dinner at the
Jaeger’s was likely a smorgasbord cf
roast pork, pickled herring, meat-
balls, winter vegetables and hopefully
not the dread lutfisk (fish soaked in
lye and smelling horrid). Only the
adults would drink glogg, but there
might be blood oranges from Spain
for the children. For dessert, of
course, tisgrynsgrot, or rice por-
ridge, containing one almond —
whoever got it would enjoy a year of
good luck.

___ So far, there are only oo siblings
who sit and hope for the almond,
but the third is coming soon.

After dinner, the wo children,
Calla and Folke (Sonia, Dagmar, and
Gosta will come later) would likely
have put out a dish of porridge for
the JulTomte or Christmas elf, hop-
ing he would bring gifts. It’s possi-
ble that at the very moment that
they were tucked into bed for the
night, a small red-hatted, white-

bearded tomte was
scurrying under the
window, making
tiny tracks in the
snow as he rushed
off to tend to live-
stock or some
other domestic task

between \
which tomte are
known to carry

the lines
out.

Perhaps as the ovo children lay in
bed someone read them The
Tomten by Victor Rydberg. Their
eyelids already heavy, they listened
intently, but likely didn’t stay awake
till the end of the poem:

Hard is the cold of Midwinter’s
night,
Stars sparkle and gleam.
In the lonely town at this midnight
hour, all are sleeping.

Moon wanders its silent way, now
lights white on fir and spruce,
Snow lights white on roof.
Only tomte is awake.

As the snow fell, their new sister,
too, would fall asleep, but not yet in
a bed. The adults knew her appear-
ance was imminent.

Now, on this 27th day of
December, their new sister was born.
In the years to come, she too would
enjoy the family Jul celebrations and
look for the almond in her riseryns-
grot. But unlike most of her siblings,
she will not stay long in Sweden. In
her 20s, she will meet a man from
Eckerda, a carpenter, who finds
inspiration in the stories of Jack
London and has his sights set on
Kanada.

By 1927, the carpenter was
already in that other land of snow,
waiting for his wife and infant son to
join him. In early December, she
stepped onto the ship called
Drottningholm in the port of
Goteborg holding her two-year-old
son, her possessions packed into
wooden trunks, her life veering to
the west. There was a long voyage

See From page 19

Holiday Hours: Closed Dec. 24/25 Jan. 1
Boxing Day 10-6Ppm

Cozy corner

A guest room should be welcoming and comfortable. Here, butter yeliow and white set the tone,

with black accessories for a clean, warm look. See story page 16.

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NEWS photo Mike Wakefield

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