This is JUST what it was like running this evening. Up on a hill, a vacant lot whose owners are non-residents — my dog wondering why we stopped for a moment to listen to an owl just as the sun set – - -

Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here,
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer,
To stop without a farmhouse near,
Between the woods and frozen lake,
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

         -- Robert Frost

The Swedish Christmas Table, Carl Larsson style:

The Swedish Christmas Table, Eggsintomatoes style (which means I leave out all the gross stuff!)

Okay, so what do we have here on the Julbord (Christmas table)

Clockwise from bottom

Ham & potatoes.

Pickled beets from the garden this last summer

Sill!!!!!!! (pickled herring– my fave)

Limpa bread (Swedish Rye bread) & knäckebröd

Cheese: Bondost (farmer’s cheese), Jalsburg (Swiss type cheese) Havarti with Dill

Pickled cucumbers with parsley

More beets. The kids love ‘em.

Gravlox

Sausage & Liverwurst

Don’t worry! We had meatballs. They are in a pot on the stove.

The Ham was to DIE for! I made it in the Chambers from a recipe from the Chamber’s Lover’s message board. I put it in a Lisk Roaster (made for the Chambers) put a little water in the bottom and put it in a preheated 500 degree oven. It cooked for 20 minutes and then we left it in there, after turning off the heat, for two hours while we went to church. It was the most heavenly ham EVER– falling off the bone, moist — excellent. I don’t even like ham and I ate this ham!

Missing from the Julbord: Head cheese (ACK!) Janssens Frestesele (DOUBLE ACK!) sardines, anchovies, — I am sure there is more but that’s all I can think of. And no, we never eat Lutefisk. That is Norwegian. Swedes hate anything Norwegian, but we are polite about it , not like those pesky Norwegians who go on and on and on and on . . . ( I kid! I kid! — you can always tell a Norwegian — you just can’t tell him much! Really I kid!)

メリークリスマス!
Boas Festes!
Feliz Navidad!
Buon Natale!
God Jul!
Vrolijk Kerstfeest!
Glaedelig Jul!
圣诞节快乐!
Froehliche Weihnachten!
Joyeux Noel!

I did the kitchen in blue milk paint. Did the island in black, and the Chambers is installed and cooking away! This stove was SO worth it. Cooking on it is like a dream. Love it.

Warning, if you are AT ALL squeamish, or easily grossed out, don’t watch this. I can’t even watch it without getting grossed out and I am the neti pot’s new biggest fan!

If you are sick with a head cold I have two words for you: neti pot

I have seen, I have conquered, and I feel oh so much better!

Little things become big things when you are sick with a fever and congestion and it is -10 degrees out but you still have to do chores like feed the fluffy Fjord horses that come from Norway who think -10 is balmy weather.

The best little thing? This little infuser tea pot that arrived just in time from Amazon yesterday. That and cold care tea.

The dual pot that comes with the Chambers for the Thermowell is aluminum. With all the rumors floating around about aluminum and alzheimers I decided not to use them just to be safe. Since I have kids I am a little leery of the aluminum. I want to remember them when I am older (and I want them to remember me when they are rich and famous  ;D) so for now, I am going sans aluminum.

I was looking at a pot I had next to the fireplace that I was using to heat essential oils and thought– I wonder?! And it does! It fits in the thermowell! It is enamelware — a straight pot used for camping. Turn the lid upside down and it fits right in. Even has a handle for lifting out.

Dual pot that came with the Chambers, but alas! It’s aluminum — these go for over $100 on Ebay:

The camping pot! $7.95 at Walmart!

Fitting in the Thermowell — priceless! (I just wish they came in that pretty blue swirl color)

Pretty nifty. Now I just have to try and talk my mom out of her Revereware. That stuff was MADE for the Chambers stove. (hint hint mom — you don’t have to BUY me anything for Christmas, just wrap up the Revereware and I’ll be happy ) I just bought a Revereware tea kettle today as Lula is really enjoying a cup of tea in the mornings–especially as she has a cold this week. When the kettle started whistling I started bawling. It reminded me of my Swedish grandmother, my Nana, then I got to thinking of my dad who died almost exactly a year ago — which got me all weepy. Sheesh, I am a mess this holiday season. I’m trying to put up a good front for the twins, but so far I am not feeling the spirit at all. To top it off, I got a dye job on my hair and I HATE IT! I screwed up my courage and called the stylist today and told her I wasn’t happy. I am going in tomorrow to have her fix it and add some lowlights in. Right now I look like white hair Barbie. Yick.

(yeah Mae is still sitting in the middle of my kitchen. We are painting new beadboard for the backsplash with blue milk paint and are then going to poly it and maybe antique it over the top. Depends. And I decided to paint the island black and distress it so stay tuned!)

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Okay, enough of that!

So hey, let’s cheer me up, shall we? Here are some pictures I found of pretty Chambers stoves in pretty kitchens. Keeping me inspired while I sand and paint and paint and sand.

A white one:

A yellow one:

And there is one in the Cottage Living magazine that is out this month. It is a white one set in red cabinets the EXACT red color I have now. But I am ready for a change so it’s all good. See, I feel better already!

Weeeelll, they are frozen eggs — but frozen PEELED eggs. They froze in the chicken house and cracked because they were frozen. I brought them in and ran them under hot water for a minute and peeled them — so the insides stayed frozen in the egg shape. When they thawed Mark ate them for breakfast