Traditioooooon! TRADITION.*

My family has very few traditions, but we love the ones we have. Here's our Thanksgiving tradition, which Zoe alluded to on Tuesday:


Every year around Thanksgiving, we take a day to make a traditional Norwegian food called lefse. It's basically a potato tortilla/pancake kind of thing, but I'd be insulted if you called it that because it requires patience and mad skillz to create. Very few things are as delicious as fresh lefse smothered in jam or butter or cinnamon and sugar or peanut butter. 


Lefse making is an event. A big group of us - aunts, grandmas, cousins, and Karens** - meet in the morning, wearing slippers and aprons and wielding skillets, rolling pins, and lefse sticks. 

Majestic, isn't it?

When my great-grandma Mudder was still with us, she would run the show, morphing from a sweet great-grandmother with a slight Norwegian accent into...well, I don't want to call her a Nazi, but I'd swear she became a wee bit German. Her main complaints were that we used too much flour or that the lefse was not thin enough. It's a tricky business, rolling lefse. With too little flour, it might stick to the board and then you have to start over. With too much, it doesn't taste right. If you roll it too thin, it might get holey when the lefse stick operator picks it up. If it's too thick, it doesn't taste right. 


Mudder didn't play favorites in life, but she did play favorites in the lefse kitchen. And I was her favorite. I don't want to brag, but my lefse tends to be thin, lightly dusted in flour, and perfectly circular, which isn't necessary for good lefse, but who doesn't love some quality symmetry? After Mudder passed away, I took it upon myself to be the voice of lefse discipline in the kitchen. Someday they'll all thank me (someday, Karen). I really do wonder how they all manage when I'm not there. 


The lefse recipe was handed down from generation to generation (okay, Mudder handed an index card to my aunt, but that still counts) and someday I will hand an index card to Eiley. I love this tradition, and I miss it terribly whenever I'm away. 


In conclusion, the lefse dance, starring a super pixelated Aunt Vicki, Mama, and cousin Diana!







*My mom likes to sing "Tradition" from Fiddler on the Roof every time we do anything remotely traditional. And now I do too. Therefore, it's a tradition to sing "Tradition" when engaging in a tradition. Kind of blows your mind, right?
**Karen is my aunt's co-worker and dear friend. She gets a little sassy in the lefse kitchen.