Dec 16

Written by: ngreditor
12/16/2008 7:24 PM 

What Christmas is all about

Kathy Worre

As you have all been hearing - this is a difficult year for many people due to the economy and job layoffs. I have been hearing so many advertisements on “this is ... what Christmas is all about.”

Newman Grove and its surrounding areas are no different in the struggle most are feeling. However, we have a greater advantage than the larger communities around us. We know each other. We recognize each other’s needs.

This year the Worre families are making sure the ‘sharing’ is not all about gifts. Yes, it is nice to receive and to give - but there are some intangible items that are more important.

Think about the Christmas traditions your families build. Some spend a day with family or friends baking cookies, or making lefse. It all builds wonderful memories and having fun together.

I have to tell you a personal story - one of the branches of the Worre family decided they needed to have a tradition of making lefse and giving it to the other families. We all LOVE lefse. So they got the traditional recipe from old family files and spent one whole day cooking and separating them into different packages.

The only problem was ... one of them had gotten a “food saver” for a gift earlier and decided to keep this lefse soooo fresh they would vacuum seal them in plastic and freeze them until the special day. Those of you who are cooks can already imagine what happened ... and for those who might of thought of this ‘great idea’ are forewarned.

Yes, they had the different packages; however, when they got all the frozen packages out, they were so “sucked” together it was like one giant frozen potato pancake! Obviously it could not be eaten as light, fluffy lefse. Yet even then, the memory and laughs are something we enjoy to this very day.

This year we are asking our family members to write out a favorite family memory that can be put together in a book, interspersed with recipes we all have enjoyed at different holidays and family gettogethers.

Maybe there is something you do each Christmas that you can pass down to your children and grandchildren. Too often we just expect them all to know what truly is a ‘family tradition’. At our house we always had oyster stew each Christmas Eve. It was something my grandparents had passed to their children - and now we want the grandchildren to understand and appreciate the history and Norwegian heritage they have. [One side note: when I was very young the thought of eating those slimy things boiled in milk and butter was disgusting! But my father all told us, “Just take the milk and sip that.” Then the next year, “just take one piece of oyster in the broth.” until later years he would have watch we didn’t take all the oysters!]

The most important thing is that the true meaning of Christmas is: Jesus came to earth to GIVE His life for us. The gifts exchanged are supposed to reflect the real gift of Jesus and His saving us from our sins to provide a way for us to go to be with Him in heaven. That should overshadow every event, activity or gathering that goes on at Christmas time. Think about it ...