Years ago I had a roommate whose mama was Swedish. Ingrid introduced me to tomtar, the Swedish Christmas elves, and she gave me a wall hanging with funny little tomtar on it.

     If you go to the website below, you'll learn about the lovely Swedish St. Lucia ceremony that takes place each December 13, which ceremony heralds the promise of more sunlight - and the Sonlight, the Light of the World - in a dark season in a northern land.

http://www.santas.net/swedishchristmas.htm

     ST. LUCIA BUNS are served in Sweden to celebrate St. Lucia's Day. They could be made part of your celebration of the Advent season. Find the recipe for these beautiful golden buns, which in their own way celebrate the coming Light of the World, at:

http://www.recipezaar.com/43784

     And here's an enthusiastically reviewed RECIPEZAAR recipe for Pepparkakor, a Swedish spice cookie:

http://www.recipezaar.com/136564

HUNGARIAN CHRISTMAS COOKIES

     They are special. Before the Austro-Hungarian empire was dismantled after World War I, its people made two great contributions to civilization. The first was music (think Mozart and Mahler). And the second was pastry (think Sacher torte). Which contribution you consider more important to humanity depends upon your feelings about music and how hungry you are. However you view them, June Meyer’s old Hungarian pastry recipes are part of a noble Central European tradition. Find her introduction to Christmas cookies here:

http://homepage.interaccess.com/~june4/christmascookies.html

     For the cookie recipes, scroll down and click on “Go back to June’s recipe index page.”

U.K. TREASURE SITES

     If you are a bit of a perfectionist and would like to make exquisite Christmas items that will become part of your Christmas tradition, come to this British site for ideas. Americans will find a slightly different and more traditional slant on craft items and Christmas foods. If you decide to make genuine Victorian dishes such as their plum pudding, you'll need a food scale.

     The site tells you, among other things, how to decorate marzipan fruits, do three-dimensional decoupage, make salt-dough wreaths, and create Advent calendars.

http://www.fashion-era.com/Christmas/

TRADITIONAL SPANISH CHRISTMAS COOKIES

     First, here’s the article:

http://spanishfood.about.com/od/dessertssweets/a/ChristmasSweets.htm

     Then the written Mantecado recipe:

http://spanishfood.about.com/od/dessertssweets/r/mantecados.htm

     And, last, here’s the video about the Mantecado:

http://video.about.com/spanishfood/Mantecados-Recipe.htm

CHRISTMAS EVE IN ITALY

     Since December 24 is a fast day of the church, traditionally Christmas Eve dinners feature fish. Click below to find a delightful article on Christmas Eve in Italy, complete with recipes, which I note include not only codfish but squab. Perhaps the thought is that, since squabs are very small, they can be considered honorary fish?

http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/egg/egg1297/buonatale.html

REGIFTING STORIES

     Many people sneak in a bit of regifting at Christmastime. A very old Christmas tradition, regifting is sometimes a good thing and sometimes . . . not. I remember the story of friends who gave each other, respectively, a pair of candlesticks and a pair of mittens for Christmas. The next Christmas, in a moment of inspiration, the recipient of the mittens sent them back as a gift to the friend who had given them. And the recipient of the candlesticks did likewise. They have happily exchanged those mittens and candlesticks every Christmas for years. Here are some other regifting stories:

http://regiftable.com/RegiftingStories/Default.aspx