Christmas

Dozens of stories and recipes, culled from the archives of The Christmas Annual, illustrate a variety of Christmas traditions from around the world. Families will enjoy making festive treats ranging from English Plum Pudding to Swedish Lucia Buns. 0-8066-4802-3$19.99 / Augsburg Fortress

The charm, warmth, and beauty of a Swedish Christmas is captured in this remarkable collection of 300 colorful, fun, and historic postcards dating back to the 1800s. Each postcard reveals the magic behind Christmas and of Scandinavian tradition and folklore. Here, gnomish elves meet Santa and children play with angels. With traditional postcards from renowned artists such as Jenny Nystrom, Elsa Beeskow, and Aina Stenberg, accompanied by explanations of the cultural and historical past, God Jul will make everyone that is even a little bit Swedish homesick for an Old World Christmas.

Christmas traditions, particularly those involving food, often honor our ancestors. Throughout the Midwest where Swedish immigrants settled, the dishes placed on the julbord (Christmas table) tell stories about who we are, where we come from, and where we are heading. In exploring these holiday customs, Patrice Johnson begins with her own family's Christmas Eve gathering, which involves a combination of culinary traditions: allspice-scented meatballs, Norwegian lefse served Swedish style (warm with butter), and the American interloper, macaroni and cheese. Just as she tracks down the meanings behind why her family celebrates as it does, she reaches into the lives and histories of other Swedish Americans with their own stories, their own versions of traditional recipes, their own joys of the season. The result is a fascinating exploration of the Swedish holiday calendar and its American translation. Featured dishes include yellow pea soup (ärtsoppa) and Swedish pancakes (Svenska plättar); assorted Swedish cookies like pepparkakor, rosettes, and meringues; meatballs with pickled cucumber; the julhög, a breakfast pyramid of bread, cheese, fruit, and cookies; and so much more. Come, raise a glass of punsch, hear tell of holidays past, snack on cardamom bread, and celebrate jul the midwestern way.

The modern Norwegian-American Christmas is a warm and regenerative family holiday for millions of Americans whose ancestors came from Norway--celebrated with family feasts of lutefisk, lefse, rømmegrøt, rull, and fruit soup, observed in homes where trees are decorated with straw ornaments, flags, and heart-shaped baskets. It is the time to carry on customs whose origins have been lost in the past. Kathleen Stokker's Keeping Christmas: Yuletide Traditions in Norway and the New Land brings home the stories of Christmas customs in both countries. Norwegian immigrants carried with them the folk traditions, developed over centuries, that shaped their identities, and they held those practices especially dear at Christmas time, remembering family members left behind. But in the U.S., they and their descendents met the newly evolving traditions of the highly commercial American Christmas, a powerful homogenizing force in a nation of immigrants. And the celebration of Christmas in Norway continued to evolve as well, as the holiday--influenced in the twentieth century by U.S. practices--became more child-centered and more commercial. Stokker describes and traces the development of folkways on both sides of the ocean, from their origins to their practice today. With fascinating details, with scores of accounts of ancient and modern Christmases, with recipes and photographs, this book reminds Norwegians and Norwegian Americans of their connections to each other and explains how their celebrations differ on this most joyous of holidays.

Celebrate Christmas Scandinavian style--where every day from the first Advent Sunday to the end of December is part of the holiday. Trine Hahnemann serves up a cornucopia of festive recipes for brunches, cocktail and tea parties, lunches, and dinners, all filled with traditional goodies and delicious modern dishes. Enjoy regional specialties such as spiced gløgg wine, Slow-Cooked Goose with Apples and Prunes, Kale Salad with Pomegranate, Caramel Potatoes, Meatballs with Pickled Beets, and Chocolate-Dipped Candied Oranges. Skol!

In this beautiful festive craft book, Caroline Wendt and Pernilla Wästberg present a wealth of recipes, decorations and gifts to add a little Scandinavian magic to any Christmas! Bake tasty festive treats, from savory breadsticks to delicious gingerbread men. Add Scandinavian flair to your home with cushions, wreaths and crocheted Santas. Decorate a Christmas tree the Swedish way, with frozen angels, knitted baubles and icing snowflakes. And share the festive cheer with perfect gifts like cookie jars and cute caramel crackers. A Swedish Christmas is packed with wonderful festive projects using all kinds of materials and techniques. Each project comes with simple, easy-to-follow instructions and beautiful photographs.

It's fun to explore how other countries celebrate Christmas! "God Jul" is the Swedish greeting, and you will learn to pronounce it and learn what it means when you explore the letter J in this delightful alphabet coloring and activity book! Learn to pronounce all 29 Swedish alphabet words and examine the associated Christmas tradition through coloring whimsical illustrations and family-friendly activities, including a tomte hunt! Additional pages are provided so you can add your Christmas stories, photos, recipes, memories and drawings, making it a one-of-a-kind book! Targeted ages of 7-12 but children and adults ages 3-103 will enjoy this unique book! Great family and classroom resource!

Straight from a country famous for its Christmas celebrations, Swedish author Helene Lundberg goes into detail on everything necessary to make beautiful Christmas crafts with an authentic Swedish twist. This full-color book includes lists of necessary materials, step-by-step pictures of each project, and patterns in the back of the book so you get perfect results with every craft. From stockings, ornaments, and picture frames to creative gift wrappings, Christmas cards, and homemade candles, the simple and elegant projects in this book are easy enough to appeal to beginners, but exquisite enough to make even the newest crafter seem like an expert.

Festive foods for a traditional Christmas season. Yuletide is a time of delicious smells wafting through the halls: onions sizzling on the stove, a wood fire gently smoldering in the grate, and fresh-baked gingerbread ready to hang on the tree. It's a time of tradition and recipes handed down from one year to the next. The Swedish Christmas Table is a festive homage to the international history of the month of snow and mulled wine, advent calendars, and gathering family. Set your table with such seasonal delicacies as: Mulled wine, eggnog, and seasonal cocktails Roasted nuts Fudge, nougat, and marzipan Christmas ham Vegetable pie with roasted walnuts Frosted fruit And so much more to delight and impress! Discover new holiday favorites and update old traditions. Featuring vibrant and retro holiday collages, The Swedish Christmas Table is a Christmas cookbook to inspire, cherish, and hold on to for years to come.

A traditional Swedish Christmas evokes thoughts of delicious homemade breads and pastries, beautiful wreaths and ornaments, and handmade crafts fashioned by the fire on a snowy day. Here everyone will learn how to bring those warm traditions into their homes, wherever they live. From glögg to red candied apples, festive hyacinth bouquets to citrus fruit centerpieces, Ernst Kirchsteiger’s classic recipes and creative projects are simple and inspiring. He includes fully illustrated instructions to make: Walnut and saffron crisp rolls A mistletoe bouquet Apple herring Glazed ham Pickled vegetables Rosemary crispbread Orange-flavored shortbread Almond and vanilla milk A Christmas chandelier Festive candlesticks Ice lanterns And much more! Kirchsteiger reminds readers that Christmas is not a race or a contest. It is a season full of meaning that gives everyone the chance to spend time with loved ones, celebrate old traditions, and create new ones. Follow the instructions in these pages or use them as inspiration for your own creations.

"It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:35 (NIV) "What would I wish for?" Annika wondered aloud. "If ever I had the almond in my pudding...what would be my wish?" In turn-of the-century Sweden, finding the almond hidden in the rice pudding is the Christmas Eve highlight for many children, since it means a chance to wish...for a new pair of snowshoes, a mountain of truffles coated with cocoa, an adorable kitten. For ten long years--all of her life--Annika has dreamed of discovering the almond in her own pudding. Will this be her year? A beautiful book that will become part of a family's Christmas heritage, Annika's Secret Wish inspires young and old to freely give and share even long hoped-for gifts. The final page features Swedish Christmas traditions that your family may choose to include in your own holiday celebration.

Hanna can't get used to the idea of celebrating Christmas in America. In fact, she wishes her family hadn't moved to America at all! It's nothing like home in Sweden. Luckily, Hanna's grandmother sends her a magical friend--a tomten--who may just be able to help her bring a Swedish Christmas to her new home.

Kirsten and her family will be celebrating their first Christmas in America. Kirsten wants to keep some of their old Swedish traditions alive in the new country, so she secretly plans a Saint Lucia celebration. But everything depends on a trip to town with Papa, and hes too busy to leave the farm. At last they go - and get caught in a terrible blizzard. Its up to Kirsten to keep herself and Papa safe through the night. When she finally gets home, the candles in the little cabin glow with a special holiday warmth.

Long revered in both East and West, St. Lucia is an early virgin martyr whose life and legacy shine as a light of faith, hope, and compassion in the darkness of winter and sin. Lucia, Saint of Light introduces young readers to both her life and her delightful Christmas-related festival as it is traditionally celebrated in Sweden and around the world. Daria Fisher's warm and vivid illustrations will make this book a favorite with children and parents alike. Brighten your home this winter with the festival of Lucia, Saint of Light!

Luminously illustrated by Mary GrandPre, a timeless adventure from master storyteller Phyllis Root about the loss of the sun -- and one girl's brave quest to find it In a cozy cabin high in the mountains of the Far North, Lucia and her family live a snug and contented life. But one day the wind screams fiercely and the sun does not rise over the mountain. Someone has stolen the sun "Perhaps it has lost its way," says Lucia, who despite her mother's pleas sets out to find it with only a bit of bread, a tinderbox, and her milk-white cat to keep her company. In dramatic pastels, Mary GrandPre illuminates troll-pocked frozen mountains and wraps Lucia's family in a blanket of warmth. Inspired by Nordic lore, Phyllis Root spins a golden yarn of courage, love, and the age-old longing for the return of light.