One of my favorite Christmas traditions is baking for our families. I have always been proud of my Scandinavian heritage and make a point each year to carry on the traditions set forth by my Great Grandparents.
Yesterday my mom and I spent the day doing some of my favorite things. With an order needing to be picked up for Christmas dinner. We headed down to Ballard (a Scandinavian community in Seattle) early this year to try to avoid the rush. We picked up potatis korv (potato sausage), cardamom rolls, nokkelost cheese, skoleboller (school buns with vanilla custard), and sursild (pickled herring). Christmas would not be complete with out these delicacies!
After snacking on some of the goodies we picked up, it was time for us to get busy making our Hardanger Lefse. The recipe was passed down from my Great Auntie Anna. My daddy, remembers as a boy Auntie Anna stopping by the house with a large plate of Lefse for all to enjoy.
My mom mixed up the buttermilk, white Karo syrup, eggs, sugar, and flour. After kneading in a total of 9 cups of flour and separating out 30 small lemon sized pieces of dough, it was time to start rolling. Each piece of dough is rolled out super super thin and then placed onto a 500 degree Lefse iron to cook for a couple minutes on each side.
One of the fabulous things about Hardanger Lefse is how well it stores. The sheets can be stored for a year (it never lasts that long though!) stacked in an open brown paper bag. Before serving, it needs to be softened, then buttered with cinnamon and sugar, folded up, and cut into 1 inch pieces. It's a lot of work to make, but so worth the effort!!!!
Daphne's one request from Santa. A pink kitchen!
For this is the birthday of Jesus our King who brought us salvation - His praises we'll sing!
I added lots of glitter too. You can never have enough sparkle, right?
Clip candy thermometer to pan. Cook stirring constantly until temp reaches 290 degrees (usually about 15 minutes).
Watch carefully! Keep stirring cuz you don't want it to scorch.
Pour into prepared pan, let stand while you melt 2 - 12 0z packages of semi-sweet chocolate.
Spread the chocolate over toffee mixture.
Sprinkle with remaining chopped almonds. 
Let cool until chocolate hardens, then break up into bite size pieces.
Enjoy! 
Our multi-color lighted tree (never thought I'd have anything but white lights) is really charming. I tried to stick with a vintage toy theme, but each year I've been adding to it with anything we find we love.
The tree in all it's glory surrounded with coordinating pillows. :o)
Gotta love '32 Ford hiboys and old ornaments in a crystal compote. What a combo! :o)
Here is the railing leading up the stairs.
My mom gave me this snowman, I just love him!
I found this old school desk for 5 bucks and painted it black. It is much loved by our 5 year old budding artist.
I just love these old ornaments. Hard to see, but there is a fabulous very old Santa in the front jar, he is spectacular! 
The vintage pink flocked wreath which greets all who enter our home!
This year I tried something new on the mantel. My mom found me a simple wood box last spring thinking I could use it for something. Well... I added some rose appliques on front, beaded trim all around, then painted it white. It makes a perfect mini Christmas tree holder! The stocking is one I made out of vintage chenille.
Nothing is sweeter then Father Christmas all decked out in pink! He is even carrying roses!
I absolutely adore old Christmas ornaments! Here are a few of my favorites separated by color and displayed in apothecary jars.
The view from our entry hallway. I love how the lights reflect off the window and mirror over the mantle.
I recently purchased this Frosty the Snowman book off Ebay to replace the one I had as a child. When it arrived, I just had to put it on display - the illustrations are so sweet!
Since 2003, I have used an artificial tree. My hubby is estactic that he doesn't have to go with "picky" me to the tree farm to find the perfect tree anymore. One year we drove around to at least 4 tree farms before I could settle on "the one". Needless to say, that wasn't one of our better times! :o) He is more then happy to just get the tree out of storage!
Another favorite of mine - old aluminum trees are so sparkly no lights needed!
