Skip to main content

Little Christmas Eve Traditions

Tuesday - December 23rd. Andrea's husband Mike has Norwegian ancestry and the coolest Christmas tradition!

On the 23rd of December, Norwegians gather together to decorate their Christmas trees and have an open-faced sandwich making contest. Mike and Andrea's tree was already decorated, but we did have a sandwich making contest, complete with prizes.

The rules: make a sandwich and you have to eat it. If you do not eat something on your sandwich you are disqualified.

At first, I must admit I was stumped. What do you do with bread, cheese, sliced sandwich meat, pickles, sliced avocado, sliced cucumbers, sliced eggs, smoked salmon, sardines, condiments, etc.? How do you make them into edible art? Karyn is a fairly picky eater and was the most nervous about making something cool that she would also eat.

Once we had started it was a great deal of fun. Everyone made awesome sandwiches. Mike took pictures so we could vote on which sandwich we wanted for each of three categories: Silliest, Most Creative, and Prettiest.

Karyn made a silly face with a dip goatee; she won silliest. Richard (Karyn's husband) made a log cabin complete with someone standing at the door and a chimney of cheese cubes on a toothpick and won most creative. Andrea made a pretty display on her sandwich and won prettiest; her sandwich reminded me of the spread they laid out on the cruise.
Me, I made mine into a butterfly with red pepper strips outlining the wings and eggs and black olive slices and tomatoes and salmon making patterns on the wings; I used miniature pickles for antenae. And don't forget the avacado slice for its body!

Andrea may post pictures. I can't remember if Karyn or Melinda had their cameras, but I didn't have mine with me.

The kids ate what they would and mostly ran around and had a good time together. Laura sat on my lap several times to tell me made up stories about fairies. What a smart and imaginative little girl she is!

The evening was great fun! Thanks for sharing your tradition with us and hosting a great party, Andrea and Mike!

After the sandwich party, I went to Tina's and then later to Daphne's. An uber fun Merry Christmas-ing day!
Labels:

Comments

Melinda said…
You made an awesome sandwich. And, though I am slow, I finally posted some pics. Also, thank you so much for my headbands. I have already worn both of them and I had to fight my neice to get one back from her. You RULE!
December 29, 2008 at 9:45 PM
Andrea B. said…
I was so glad you came. I will post, but it may take me a while. BTW, I thought you should have won prettiest!!!
December 31, 2008 at 10:15 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Memories

Oliver, I remember how small you were. How you whined and cried when you were left alone in your box/kennel while you were being house trained. I remember how you took to Cambridge, wanting to be with him everywhere. I remember sitting with the two of you, having structured together time; Cambridge was not fond of the new puppy and needed encouragement for patience, lessons on sharing, and reminders not to nip at the puppy. You hated going somewhere Cambridge did not go and wanted to go everywhere he did. You were always eager to love, ready for a pat on the head, playtime, offering a lick to the hand, even when I didn't put my best foot forward. Even when I scolded. What a small fluff you were. Loyal and anxious and mischievous. Wanting to climb into laps. Wanting more food, more time, more love. Always thinking you were still a puppy. Wanting to be the center of everything. Stealing toys just to steal them. Camping trips with you and Cambridge in the tent with me because I was wo...
10 comments
Read more

A Day at the Zoo

Last Saturday, before the sudden cold snap, we took a family to the Hogle Zoo. The weather was perfect--not too hot, not too cold. The animals were out and about. The zoo wasn't too crowded, and we got to see them feed a penguin fish. RD loved the lizard his dad told him was a dinosaur. IC said she liked the zebras the best. In this picture, AL was a little nervous at first when the giraffe started to lower and tried to pull herself up the pole until she realized that the animal would rise up and sink down. Then, she was fine. She had a ball going around in circles and waving at everyone as we passed. The rest of my nieces and nephews who were old enough to care about riding on a carousel had ridden the turn before. What a fun day! Becca thanks for sharing this picture!
6 comments
Read more

Name Quest

My sister-in-law's sister is expecting her third baby. She and her husband have opted not to know the gender of this little one because they have a girl and a boy already. They want to try one the "old-fashioned" way. Maybe the surprise will be twins and they will have one of each... The trick is, they are trying to keep a naming pattern that I had already thought was pretty tricky, but only tonight realized a new dimension of its complexity. Their daughter is Ruth, and their son is Garreth. They would like to continue the "th" ending of the next baby's name. Tonight, my brother and sister-in-law also pointed out that their first child's name is one syllable, their second child's name is two syllables, and they would like their third child's name to have three syllables. (Maybe that is how Mahonri Moriancumer got such a long name....) That seemed nearly impossible to me at first, but was surprised at how many names do end in "th". Join...
6 comments
Read more