Little Yule Often

Little Yule Often is a tradition we have in my family. It is a Danish tradition from my mom's side. We have done this ever since I can remember. Every year, the day before Christmas Eve, we all get together as a family and make all our goodies for the big day. We make sugar cookies, Christmas balls, and fry cakes. We had a Little Yule Often miracle this year... Angela, Alexa, and Alex came and surprised us all! Since they moved to Spanish Fork, they have missed out on a couple Little Yule Oftens. It was great to have them here and we missed Rich and Max.

We always start out with the sugar cookies. Monica always makes the dough and she usually rolls them out, but she had to work, so my mom rolled them out and baked them. The kids always love to frost and sprinkle them. Some people don't participate in any activities (Amberly and Steve) but we love their company!

McKenzie and Me

Melanie - they had "ugly sweater day" today at work. Melanie raided my mom's sweaters and had a hard time choosing which one was the most hideous (sorry mom). But if you ask my mom, she has no ugly sweaters! Melanie made the bow to go along with her outfit - very lovely!

Alexa and Angela

Melanie made us all these cute tiles for a Little Yule Often gift. She is very crafty and thoughtful!

Angela, Amy, and Me

The fry cakes are always the last thing we make. They are made out of potatoes and other ingredients. Dad rolls them out and cuts them and then we flip the bottom through the slit and that's how they get their twisted shape. I don't know why my dad still agrees to doing them every year because he gets barked at when they aren't the perfect size or shape. He's a good sport! Mom fries them and then we all eat them! This is one of my families favorite things to eat on Christmas morning.

Monica always refuses to twist the fry cakes and she always tries to bolt before we make them, but we never let her escape. She rummaged through the snow closet for a snow cap because fry cakes do get pretty stinky and they make your clothes and hair smell bad. I guess Monica didn't want to wash her hair again, cause this is what she wore the rest of the night!

While we were making the fry cakes, Jason was the photographer for all of us and he just can't resist when he has a camera in his hands...

Owen and Alex were just relaxing watching The Grinch (I think that's what we watched).
It was a fun night!