Christmas tradition

I don't know how Nancy did it, but she is as nuts as my Mom when Christmas rolls around. Nancy is the daughter of my Mom's sister.

And she knows how to make my Mom's mint cookie like nobody else.

The problem is with the mints. It's a special kind of chocolate mint that the Pearsons Candy Company doesn't make anymore. Maybe that's because the Pearsons Candy Company isn't anymore.

Sad.

Nancy starts into this cookie making crisis every year about now. "Do you know where I can find the mints?" she emails me. I Google. I Yahoo. I have probably gained two pounds looking at various chocolate mints online. Even the Swiss missed this opportunity. At least I think they did but I don't read Swiss very well and I am more into their cheese.

None the less, Christmas won't be right for Nancy if these special mints don't appear...and soon! She is really big on the holiday traditions. She wants to make sure her son, probably the pick of the family herd and local fireman/paramedic, gets his fill of mint cookies.

Her house is full of those little things that make her house...well Christmasie. My house looks like everyone left in a big hurry and it smells like wet socks, not spiced hot tottie.

So what happens when a Christmas tradition is threatened by lack of an ingredient? There are only two choices. Let it end and start a new one. Or buy a candy factory.

We come from Norwegian stock. That means we are tough. In fact, we are the people that introduced cruise ships to the world. Granted, they didn't have a roof but none the less. We discovered America. Check it out, there are settlements in Canada dating back 500 years before Columbus. They didn't develop the property because they didn't want everyone in Norway to end a sentence with "eh?"

Norwegians were fishermen and sailors and not whiney cookie eaters. (If you need a good visual, Capitol One hired some of our relatives to do credit card commercials.)

So there is room for a new tradition, I think. Something with the sea and something with power rather than a mint filled dunker. John is a big guy. He needs to keep his strength up to be a paramedic/fireman. So here's my suggestion.

Lutefisk Smoothie

1/2 pound of Lutefisk cooked until it looks and tastes like an old sponge
1 cup or protien power
A pinch of REAL sea salt (One ingredient should be tough to get or Nancy will balk.)
1/2 half can of cooked spinach
2 cups of orange juice
Blend the hell out of it

That will send John out of the house Christmas Eve with more power than a stuttering Popeye and create a new Christmas tradition they will be talking about for 100 years.

Merry Christmas Nancy. Without you, it just wouldn't be.