Planning for Christmas

I always plan what to do, when, to get ready for Christmas.

Getting ready for Christmas means that the entire month of December is filled with activities and spending money... at least on paper it is.

My list this year looked something like this:

November 29^th and 30^th: wrap and number all the gifts for the kids’ Advent Calendars.

December 1^st:           Hang the Advent star in window.

                                   Hang the outdoor lighting.

                                   Get the advent candelabra ready.

December 2^nd:          Bake one kind of cookie.

                                   Attend the lighting of public outdoor Christmas tree.

December 3^rd:          Plan and get hold of everything I need to make Christmas cards.

December 4^th:          Make Christmas cards and write them (List of receivers)

December 5^th:          Bake one kind of cookie.

                                   Cleaning the windows on the inside.

December 6^th:          Write Christmas cards

                                   Wrap the gifts to be sent by mail.

-       - - - - - - - - -

December 13^th:        Remember white coat and tinsel for kindergarten > practise song

Bake saffron buns > the day of Saint Lucia

December 15^th:        Birthday party!

December 16^th:        Bake one kind of cookie

... and the list goes on.

The problem with writing lists is that you plan as if everyday life is predictable. I fall into the trap EVERY time.

I never planned of being appointed examiner and external examiner for make-up examination.

I never planned on heavy snowfall and following extensive snow clearing. (This part of the country never plan on snow... it is abnormal to have heavy snowfall here. Not like where I grew up, where it is the rule.

I never planned on serious traffic chaos, causing hours of delay getting anywhere.

I never planned on my son wanting to celebrate his birthday arranging a gaming night and sleep over.

I just ignored the possebility of things happen. All of these nothings which end up being time consuming when added up. Everyday life must go on; I can’t put life on hold just because I want to do something extra.

Today’s state: Advent calendar made,  advent candelabra displayed and two lights lit, windows cleaned, all the lighting planned on hung... Day of Saint Lucia marked...

Difficult being young(?)

There is a lot which can be said about young people of today, but in spite of (or maybe because of) all the chaos they need to deal with; working with teenagers is never boring.

Oh, it is tedious, straining, challenging, time consuming, difficult, sometimes sad, but the entertainment value is  insuperable! There is a lot of good humour going around, and the excuses they give for undone work or absence are so much more inventive than anything we ever came up with when I attended school as a student.

Even though they question the world and their own opinions, I sometimes feel that a lot of the problem we tend to ascribe them, is based in the fact that teenagers are open to ideas, but lack the ability to give serious thought and reflect on consequences these ideas may have. And that makes sense, as they do not know yet what impact their future responsebilities will have on their life and their way of living. Adult life has not yet been exposed to them to its full extent.

Still, being a teenager means you have to make major life decisions. Society expect you to plot the course for the rest of your life. Your future and what you intend to do with it.

Maybe the impact they are exposed to is so massive they feel they need to move on, rather than slow down and get things sorted out gradually. Issues pile up and unresolved matters pop up at the most unconvenient of times.

I have no problems understanding that sometimes school comes last on the prioritylist.

The other day I read a report saying that 23% of all young adults have been given professional help for mental issues. 36% think they, at some point in life, needed that kind of help.

At the same time relatively few under the age of 18 have been given help; an indication that many get help too late. Getting help too late may cause more comprehensive problems later on, as time pass.

I can’t say I knew of anyone who got professional help, among my peers, when I was a teenager. Maybe it was more secret: nothing we spoke about or wanted anyone to know.

If that is the case, I think it is a good thing we have moved forward and acknowledge that there is nothing abnormal about having problems, and some times we need help to sort them out or identify which ones are real problems and which ones are part of dealing with life.

Maybe some teenagers act out just because they think they are expected to and therefore they think they can get away with it.

It is easier if you have parents to support you, but many parents feel almost alienated when trying to get involved in their kid’s life. They feel that they are to blame if things are not on track and that society is more of an opponent rather than a resource for getting help.

Being a teacher I often see how grateful the students are when they know you go that extra mile for them: When you guide them or provide answers, even though they know it is not really part of your job.

Parents, who understand we take action not to break them or their kid, but to introduce them to solutions most times express relief.. Even when the solutions interfere in their household or perhaps even take charge of aspects in their life. System of society is a hard maze to figure out.

I get the impression that many teenagers feel they have a heavy burden on their shoulders because they need to make crucial  decisions even though they have not made up their mind what they want to do for the rest of their lives, or even know what they take a serious interest in. Imagine to get up every morning, for the rest of your adult, working life dreading the day that lays ahead, just because you hate your profession or job. As an adult with a full time job I know how many hours you put down in your job, and how it affects both your life and you as a person.

Further on they think that if they make the wrong decision then they are screwed, especially if they are not sure what they want to do yet. They have a lot of expectation on them, but at the same time they are still treated like they don't know anything at all, most of the time. And (and I have not quite figured this one out, because either it may be a stroke of genius, or they are really so naive they think it really should be so) they often act as if they expect to be perceived as clueless.

That being said: I have the impression we way too often underestimate teenagers and young adults. Yes, life itself and society generously hand out challenges and problems. Thing is; life does not discriminate. Everybody at all ages have to face what life brings.

I am lucky to remember my own teens. I remember them as busy and full of dilemmas, but it was great, most of the time... I think teenagers of today will feel the same way... in 20 years.

Yummy Christmas.

Christmas is just around the corner, and here, in Norway, part of the tradition is to bake cookies. It is common to count 7 different kinds, but most have more than that at home. They don’t necessarily bake them all (the store has a lot of delicious options) but most have cookies and cakes in cookie jars and tins, ready to be served if someone should drop by during the holidays. And people drop by all the time at Christmas. I love it! (And as soon as we think we hear someone coming we rush to open the caketins and jars and freezer and get the coffee started (yeah, we Norwegians drink coffee, not that often tea).

The discussion on which kinds of cookies we should count as the real deal is an ongoing issue through out the country. There is no key or set rule to which ones to bake (or buy), but most families have their own traditional cookies they would like to include. On the net I found  the most common ones are:

«Smultringer», «sandkaker», «sirupssnipper», «berlinerkranser», «goro», «krumkaker» and «fattigmann».

Thought I would tell about the most common ones in my house....

Smultring (plural: smultringer; English: lard ring) and hjortetakk (sometimes spelled hjortebakkels) are Norwegian doughnuts. They are smallish and usually prepared without glazing or filling, and are often flavoured with cardamom.

Smultrings are torus shaped and sold from trucks and, at Christmas time, from stalls. They are described as being "thick heavy dough fried in lard – best eaten while hot and with the grease still dripping!"
^{(source wikipedia.com)}

Goro were traditionally the "rich man's" cookies in Norway – they are prepared from what used to be really expensive ingredients like butter and cream and they are baked on specially smithed irons that very often are family heirlooms. The cookies have a texture that's a cross between a cookie, a cracker, and a waffle, lightly flavored with cardamom. I just love the pattern these cookies get in the iron when baked. I don’t make them very often, though. My grandmother had an old fashioned iron, which had to be flipped, as it was heated by the fire or cooker, but my iron is a modern, electrical one and the cookies are just too thick to become as delicate and crispy as I like them.

Another cookie, which is made from almost the same ingredients as Goro is Fattigman, or "Poor Man Cookies" which are twisted into pretty knots, quickly fried in oil or lard, and sprinkled with vanilla sugar or confectioner's sugar. They're a favorite in Norway and Sweden, and easy to prepare either with a special fattigman cutter or with a pastry cutter.

I don’t really make these either. I have tried, but... I just never got the hang of it. They just turned fatty and not that tasty at all... maybe I have the wrong recipe. My family never really had a tradition for baking these.

I truly love our delicate Norwegian krumkake cookies. They are baked on a circular cookie iron, then rolled into cones or cigars. They're guaranteed to crumble when eaten, in such a delicious way! There is no way you can eat these in an elegant manner, but I love them! I do not bake them in a large scale... I make them when I plan on serving them or when someone asks for them, as they are the best when just made. Or at least I think so.  I serve them alone, but most times I serve them filled with whipped cream mixed with fruit or berries (cloudberries is very popular around Christmas time) or with ice cream.

Serina Cookies are the ultimate Norwegian butter cookie, with a light texture that comes from using hartshorn (a.k.a. baker's ammonia or hornsalt) rather than American baking powder. Sprinkle them with pearl sugar and watch them disappear! Lovely to dip them in hot coffee and add some mocca taste to them  (I know, not very proper, but I do that to chocolate as well...)

"Sandkaker" (sand cakes) are formed in pretty fluted tins (I was fortunate enough to get my mother's as they cost a fortune!!!!!!), quickly baked in the oven, and then served either inverted to highlight their beautiful shapes or else used as tart shells for both sweet and savory fillings. I usually fill them with vanilla custard and berries... or diced fruit. Any kind I have at hand makes these cookies a real treat.

A cookie I do bake a lot of and put in the freezer is Sarah Bernhard. An almond base with chocolate butter cream and chocolate icing.

When I am to serve them I take them out of the freezer, put the coffee on and they are thawned just right for serving by the time coffee is done. They are delicious and just melt in your mouth with an explosion of jammy taste of chocolate.  They are ok for Christmas, but I would turn big as a house if I made them all year round.

We also design and build a gingerbread house for each of the kids to decorate with sweets and confectioner's sugar. They get to crack it and eat it New Year’s Eve.

We also bake big hearts and tie a bright red bow in them and hang them, i.e. the windows, for decorations... and then some figure shaped smaller ones for eating.

There is a vast number of other cookies which people here in Norway bake for Christmas, and they are all Scrumptious!