Christmas Eve

I hosted Christmas Eve dinner this year. It was a very memorable one because my mom asked me to prepare the traditional Swedish dinner that we used to have every year when my Grandma Alice was still with us. My grandpa was a full-blooded Swed so this meal started with his family. It used to be that the main course was a Swedish dish called Ludfisk which is actually a type of cod, served lye cured and dried, but apparantly it doesn't taste very good and so my Grandma changed the main course to Halibut. The menu is Halibut, white sauce, boiled potatoes, baked cream of corn, rolls, green peas, whipped cream fruit salad, rice pudding and three layer jello salad. Luckily since it was my first time cooking all this stuff, my Mom came early to lend a hand. I made the three layer jello salad the day before and I was very impressed with myself for successfully pulling it off! The meal turned out so good. The very best part about it was how the entire house just smelled like my Grandma. It brought back so many happy memories. Cristina's family - mom, dad, and sister - were in town for the holidays and so we got to share this tradition with them as well.