This was O-boys last holiday party at Fort Craig. We have been fortunate that all 3 of our children have gone to Fort Craig. A school where learning is experienced. We had a great time diving into the world of gnomes and tomtes for this very last party with these very wonderful friends.
Friends draw near. Come out ! Come out! Tomtes love to play games. Our first game was called,"One-der". Each friend brought me one thing to place "der", which was a tray. After all of the items were collected they were given 30 seconds to look at the tray knowing that they must try and remember everything on it. The tray was covered and quickly everyone started writing. The best memory in the group remembered 14 of 18 items.
Hip-Hop-Hup
The game of Hip-Hop-Hup is a favorite of tomte/gnomes, and their neighbors. Essentially a game of follow the leader, in Hip-Hop-Hup followers try to do exactly what the leader does, be it hopping, singing, eating or yodeling. When a duck is the leader, he might quack and flap four and a half times. All other players try to repeat the action. The duck decides who produced the best copy and names that player leader for the next round. Playing Hip-Hop-Hup with snakes poses special challenges, both for the snakes and for other players. The same goes for spiders and centipedes.
Tomte/Gnome holiday tables buckle under fruit, fresh-baked breads,wishing cookies,and chocolate snowballs.Their vegetarian diet allows them to share all of their favorite treats with their forest friends. The holiday dinner begins with rich mushroom borth, followed by potato stew served with cheesy rolls.
Place a pepparkakor in the palm of your hand, make a wish, hit the center of the cookie. If it breaks into three pieces your wish will come true.
Our feast consisted of pepparkakor,chocolate snowballs, and Lussekatter (a saffron bread)
~A Holiday Wish
May this year be full of proud deeds and silly games, beautiful songs and hearty feasts, clever jokes, loving friends, and enough surprises to keep us on our toes.
