If there’s one thing that I’ll say for us Scandinavian stock is that we like our carbs.

And butter.

It’s part of our charm.

Since my aunt and uncle moved to Chicago earlier this year (and since my cousin moved here a few years ago), there have been even more excuses for carb and butter consumption in my life.

My uncle Paul’s lefse is a non-negotiable, no matter how many pounds of Christmas chub I’m currently locked in a battle to the death with.

As Paul says, “lefse is really a butter delivery system”. He’s a good man, my uncle Paul.

Oh, and you should know that we Scandinavians like to increase our butter and carb consumption by at least 33% around Christmas.  I think it’s in our laws somewhere.

So this meant that Sunday was reserved for a good 3 hours of lefse making (there were stations for each of us. I’m not even kidding) and aquavit drinking.

I don’t have a picture of all of that.  Really, the world doesn’t need to see it.  Just imagine lots of little cordial glasses around a kitchen almost completely covered in flour and Scandinavians.

Of course, once we were done rolling, cooking, buttering, sugaring, eating and sipping, we needed to move onto some real food.

You might not know this, but my dad is a master of the open faced sandwich.  Open faced sandwiches are a big deal in Scandinavia.  You’re probably familiar with the Americanized “smorgasbord”.  Actually, In Danish the word for these open faced sandwiches is “smørrebrød”.

The more you know (cue: shooting star).

Anyway, my dad puts together quite the spread.

Scandinavian meatballs, pickled beets and cucumbers, pickled herring and lox sandwiches…

Roast beef, ham, turkey, shrimp salad and hard-boiled egg sandwiches…

Leverpostej (Scandinavian paté) and nokkeløst sandwiches.

It was a nice little feast.  And everyone knows that it’s important to properly refuel after consuming lots of carbs and butter.

I think I’m ready for Christmas now.