My maternal grandparents were from Denmark, and my mother carried on a few Danish xmas customs while I was growing up. The one we kids liked best was opening presents on xmas eve instead of xmas day. When I married, I suggested continuing this tradition, but my husband preferred xmas morning.
Well, he is my ex now, and my daughter now has in-law duty on xmas day, so a logical step this year was to reinstitute the xmas eve tradition. We had our xmas dinner last night - which must have been good because all conversation stopped while we filled our pie holes (and there is a recipe at the end of this post) - then my son started a fire in the rarely used fireplace...
... and we opened presents.
And was my daughter surprised when she pulled Elizabeth out of her xmas bag!
The story behind Elizabeth is a mystery. None of us can remember where she came from or why she rarely had any clothes. I think she may have been a substitute for a Cabbage Patch doll. Except for the Magic Marker on her face, she is very lifelike, so much so that I was afraid to leave her in view from the picture window lest someone see her and call Child Protective Services about that baby that is just laying there on the coffee table - and without a leg! (Her legs come off periodically.) And, in case you are wondering, the Magic Marker was a misguided attempt to give Elizabeth some hair, which my daughter blames on her brother. Natch.
Anyway, when my daughter handed over Elizabeth at Thanksgiving so I could fix her leg, I got the idea of knitting her an outfit. I used the yarn leftover from the Neverending Afghan and a free pattern from Lion Brand called "Cabled Baby Set".
The odd thing about this pattern is everything is knit flat and seamed together. I'm not very good at sewing seams, though, so I need to redo a couple that turned out particularly awful. Also, I got confused about turning the ribbing and stitched that up backwards, too. So I still have Elizabeth while I correct my mistakes.
Here is a gallery of the xmas surprise:
The first hat I have knit flat:
I was concerned about running out of pink yarn, so I striped the sleeves and back of the sweater:
Besides the above hat and sweater, the outfit includes pants and booties:
And here is Elizabeth, aka Chuckie, in her new xmas outfit:
And a view from the back:
And into the bag she goes!
And, as promised, a recipe. I don't know where I got this, and they are not a Danish tradition, but they are really, really, really good.
Miniature Pecan Pies
Crust:
1/2 c. butter or oleo
1 3oz. pkg cream cheese
1 c. sifted flour
Let cream cheese and butter soften at room temperature. Blend. Stir in flour. Chill about 1 hour. Shape into 1-inch balls (about 2 dozen) and place in ungreased mini muffin cups. Press dough in bottom and up sides of cup.
Filling:
1 egg
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 T. butter
1 t. vanilla
dash of salt
2/3 c. chopped pecans
Beat together egg, sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Add half of the pecans and pour into dough cups. Top with remaining pecans. Bake at 325 until filling is well set, about 30 minutes. Cool, then remove from pans.
And put them where the dog cannot reach them!
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