From Where I Sit

By Pat Spilseth, Columnist

It’s December, the much anticipated month of the year when friends gather to celebrate Christmas. However, some of us curtailed gathering friends for large parties for several years due to the Covid pandemic, but is it time to host parties once again? I’m having some doubts…

For me and many other Scandinavians, we like to gather together to drink coffee and eat Scandinavian pastries to celebrate  December 13th, Sankta Lucia Day, the day that opens the Christmas season. Legend says that on December 13th, the oldest daughter becomes Saint Lucia. Dressed in a white robe with red sash and a crown of flaming candles, she serves saffron buns and steaming coffee to her parents before dawn. Sankta Lucia is  the patron saint of lights and hope martyred for her Christian beliefs. She symbolizes the changing of darkness to light, as the birth of the Christ Child brought light into the world.    

Since December 13th of 1993 I’ve hosted  a neighborhood party to celebrate St. Lucia Day. That happened until Covid hit and I took a long break. All morning long on December 13, a parade of friends adorned in unique Lucia crowns come through my rosemaled front door, painted by Norwegian Elsa Watson. My neighbor Suzy always fashions a lovely garland of soft spruce boughs with candles.One year Chris wore a huge light bulb perched on a red cowboy hat; Jan, who was training a new puppy, used dog biscuits to represent candles; another friend built her crown of wood chunks (she was building a new house); others put table centerpieces on their heads. One especially creative gal created a hilarious crown out of hormone replacement pill boxes. We kick off the Christmas holidays with our own idea of fun.

Each year, about this time, I used to call my favorite krensakake baker, who put together the Scandinavian cake with 17 rings of almond paste and flags. For many years, Delores Ewing of Glenwood made them, but in her nineties, she passed on her talent to her daughter Karen Kirckof. I learned how to create the famous cake from a friend Georgia who specializes in Scandinavian knit sweaters and delicious white Scandinavian treats.

I love traditions. Several years ago Dave and I drove to the Swedish Institute on Park Avenue here in Minneapolis. The building reminds me of a European castle with turrets, ornate plaster walls and ceilings of fancy flower designs in various colors. The castle’s carved wooden fireplace mantels and wall decor of people, cherubs and patriotic eagles took years to be completed. Imported beautifully painted porcelain stoves from Sweden are present in several rooms along with a huge collection of paintings and mosaics. It’s a stunning mansion, sure to take you at least a day to enjoy strolling through the festive rooms now decorated for the holidays.

The castle has a Swedish restaurant/coffee shop, Fika, where we enjoyed a tasty lunch of golden beet salad and Swedish meatballs, creamy mashed potatoes and tart lingonberries. The gift shop is filled with tempting Scandinavian treasures..

A few  blocks away is another Scandinavian shop, Ingebretsens’ Nordic shop. Ingebretsens offers lefse, their homemade sausage, fish and meatballs, plus a pastry shop. Their charming gift shop is filled with Scandinavian trolls, Dala horses, Norwegian china, linens and seasonal treats.

At Christmas my family enjoys celebrating the holidays with Scandinavian traditions.

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To contact Pat, email: pat.spilseth@gmail.com.