My family comes from a long line of cooks and bakers. My mom was blessed with the gift of hospitality, which she learned from her mother and Grandma (Gilyard). It has always brought my mother great joy to prepare delicious home cooked meals and desserts. Feeding 10 children seems like it would be a daunting task but my mother took it in stride. 

 

My mom’s cousin, Helen Hyttsten, also loves to bake. Last week my mom, sisters, nieces and great nieces went to Helen’s so she could demonstrate making rosettes. It was a special time. Helen has been making rosettes since the 1950’s, yet considers herself a novice. 

 

Special thanks to Helen for donating rosettes for Snake River Free Mission Church Scandinavian event last weekend. The rosettes and lefse were favorites. Foods can bring back childhood memories. One person at the event commented, as he tasted a rosette, that he hadn’t had one since his childhood and just the taste brought back a flood of memories. 

 

Thanks to the lefse lady, Lavonne Moss, for providing the lefse for our event. We usually make our own lefse, but time did not allow that for this event. The lefse was extremely popular and we were sold out about half-way through our event. To order your fresh lefse, contact Lavonne at 763-242-3979.

 

Helen’s mother - Della (Henry) baked constantly. Helen told me “Mom baked a hot milk cake with chocolate frosting every day! We had coffee at 3 o’clock. We didn’t have money to buy cookies and cake, so we made all the food. We bought flour 100 pounds at a time at the Foley grocery store” Helen shared. Helen and her sisters Alma and Doris loved to bake. “We had a lot to do with our families. I am very grateful”, Helen said.

 

Helen Hyttsten and my mom shared a grandmother from Norway. They grew up like sisters, along with Helen’s sister Alma (Henry) Herbst. Helen and mom reminisced as we made rosettes about making lefse with their grandma (Alma Gilyard). “Grandma made quite an impression on us. She made lefse on the wood stove.” There is something about making food and sharing meals together that seems to bring people together. My parents always shared meals with anyone who would drop by, including people who had nowhere to be at Thanksgiving and Christmas, or any other time of the year for that matter. 

 

Family traditions have always been a big part of my life. Thanksgiving and Christmas are special times. I have spent every Thanksgiving and Christmas since 1969 at my mom and dad’s farm north of Becker.

 

One year on Christmas morning a couple had car trouble on their way to southern Minnesota for the holidays. The woman was nine months pregnant and ironically their names were Joseph and Mary! My sister Ruth drove them home and the couple sent a Christmas goose for our family to show their appreciation.

 

My sister Judy lived in Sweden for 11+ years and would sometimes mail a large box with Christmas gifts to us. One year our UPS man (Jim Huhtula) delievered. Swedes have many interesting Christmas customs including dancing around the Christmas tree, playing special games that are only played at Christmas and sharing rhymes as clues to what gifts are being given. They also prepare many delicious foods. They also celebrate Saint Lucia Day, which includes an annual candlelit Lucia procession on Dec. 13.

 

My sister Karen recalls being fascinated by the bubblers on the Christmas tree at South Santiago Lutheran Church as youngsters (late 1950’s). Karen also remembers fondly eating oyster stew, lefse and rosettes with her husband Larry’s parents and grandparents - Tony and Donna Sakry and Jeanette and Somery Harshman on Christmas Eve. 

 

Growing up, we took an annual three day trip over Easter to Kansas to visit my mom’s  brother Ronald Gilyard’s family. It was an exciting time, as we rarely got away from the farm because of the dairy operation. We always called our three day Easter getaway “Erickson’s Disneyland”. We all piled in the car and headed down I-35. 

 

Every year over Thanksgiving weekend, we usually make large amounts of lefse, often peeling in excess of 100 pounds of potatoes! We enjoy our lefse tradition (especially sampling the product).

 

We often make a trip to Day, Minnesota, in late November to stock up on pickled herring and lutefisk. A huge meal of boiled potatoes, Lutefisk with a 55 gallon drum of butter and Swedish meatballs were always served at Christmas. My young nephew Matthew would put a handkerchief on his nose to shield himself from the pungent aroma. My dad, his brother Herb and my brother Stephen (who was seriously almost named Ole, which may have been fitting) needed side boards on their plates as they would all eat so much lutefisk they practically needed to be hauled out on a stretcher. One more Erickson Christmas tradition has always been attending church on Christmas Eve.

 

Some relatively new traditions for me include taking an annual trip for my niece Lillie’s birthday in mid-November with my mom and a couple of my sisters. We usually try to visit lifelong friends Sharon (Watkins) Couch and her family. Later today we are heading out for our annual week-long girls getaway to Branson to celebrate Lillie’s 15th birthday and spend time with Sharon and Wayne Couch. LIllie loves horses so we usuallly enjoy Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede dinner show (four course meal) complete with wonderful live Christmas music, horses and a spectacular live nativity scene including three kings riding atop camels on their way to Bethlehem and angels ascending from above.

 

It’s almost time to cut down our Christmas tree! The important part is spending time with the people in your life. I am making an effort to spend less time in front of the television and more time enjoying the people around me. I encourage you to do the same!