My most memorable Christmas as a child was the year we gathered at Aunt Helga and Uncle Ernst’s house. I don’t remember the exact year, but it was before my sister Jennifer was born, which was 1966, so it had to be in the early to mid 1960’s. Uncle Ernst was actually my Morfar’s brother, making him my great uncle. My Mom’s family was Danish and Swedish, and in Scandinavia the Christmas celebration takes place on Christmas Eve, so we piled into the car as it was beginning to get dark, and Dad drove the 20 miles or so from our home in Barre, Massachusetts to the town of Gardner where my Mom’s relatives lived.
I remember that we were dressed to the hilt, my brother and I in suits and ties that were hand made by my Mom. Those suits were about the only clothes we had that weren’t hand-me-downs from our cousins Marty and Johnny. Sisters Cindy and Dale, twins, were dressed alike as usual, with the same hair style (bangs) as well. The only way we could tell which one was which was to look for the small mole on Cindy’s neck, a mole Mom insisted was a “beauty mark.”
Aunt Helga’s tree was perfect; all of the lights were blue, and each light bulb was covered with Angel Hair – not the pasta, but spun glass, a handful or so around each bulb. The effect was ethereal. Each bulb emitted a softened glow, sort of what a blue street light would look like in a snowstorm.
The house smelled like brussels sprouts, a favorite of Aunt Helga and Uncle Ernst, which was being prepared by Aunt Viola. Aunt Viola was Uncle Ernst’s sister in law. After her husband Brør, Uncle Ernst’s brother, passed away, Aunt Viola moved in with Uncle Ernst and Aunt Helga and became their live-in domestic, helping to take care of Aunt Helga when she became ill in her later years.
While the ladies and us kids visited in the living room where the tree was, the men gathered in the kitchen to “help” Uncle Ernst make his famous Christmas Glögg. It was important that the concoction be taste tested by each of them, to make sure it was “just right.”
Other than the Brussls sprouts (which I hated then, but love nowadays) I don’t remember what we had for Christmas dinner. I’m sure it had to be roast pork with the rind still on it, a favorite Scandinavian holiday treat. What I do remember, explicitly, is the fact that when the rice pudding was served after the meal, I was the one who found a single almond at the bottom of my dish. It is a Scandinavian tradition to have rice pudding for Christmas Eve dessert. An almond is placed into one of the servings of rice pudding, and whoever finds it gets a prize. I will always remember that I was the winner of the prize for the children’s table, which was a set of colored pencils.
I don’t really remember what I got for presents that night, except for one; every single Christmas, until she could no longer do so, Aunt Viola got every man and every boy a box of monogramed handkerchiefs for Christmas. Every single year. She explained that as they are used, they wear out and should be replaced on a regular basis. I grew to cherish those handkerchiefs. I still had some of them after Laura and I got married. Aunt Viola was one of my favorite people.