smörgåsbord

1. Christmas Eve smörgåsbord ready for the eating.

2. Honey mustard glazed, oven roasted ham.

3. Brie stuffed mushrooms

4. Deviled eggs

5. Anari cheese wrapped in Greek roasted red peppers.

6. Lemon and dill salmon.

7. Kitty's cranberry sauce.

8. Orange pineapple delight in a hurricane punchbowl.

A stalwart part of my memory of Christmas has always been the Christmas Eve  Smörgåsbord my parents would host annually.  Without any family nearby to celebrate the season with, we invited individuals with similar situations to our home for a Swedish feast.  Twenty some odd years later, many of those individuals are now family as dear to us as any blood.

Being overseas, this tradition transferred well for Mr. F and myself.  We were able to invite some of our new friends over and give them a place to go to for Christmas.  I'll admit, in my mind, this is always Christmas and the morning following is just superfluous.  I love having dear ones gathered in my home and the smell of Swedish delights filling the house.

Our menu this year was very akin to what I grew up with, with a just a few Cypriot additions to round off the entourage.  After a few weeks of solid cooking, this meal was surprisingly easy to prepare and very low-stress.  Plus, the leftovers are amazing!  One of the things I am most proud of is my last minute decision to use a hurricane vase as a punch bowl.  A few of our nicer serving pieces are still in storage in the States, so I had to make do.  The hurricane was perfect for the size of our gathering, not to mention table.

Hopefully I will get some recipes up soon, but if I don't, feel free to ask!  (Trust me when I say you need the brie stuffed mushrooms and cranberry sauce in your life...)