Hi Orchid,

How nice to hear from you this evening.

I don't know how successful that woman is. Good question.

As for me, you are right, I am part Norwegian. A quarter Norwegian, the rest German and English. But my paternal grandfather was 100% Norwegian, and his wife, my grandmother, learned how to prepare his favorite Norwegian specialties. As did my mother - and I.

So while I have a fantastic German Christmas cookie recipe that I've never need anywhere else courtesy of my mother's side of the family, I do know a lot more about Scandinavian breads, cookies, desserts -- breakfasts and salads. (Sadly, I don't know much about Scandinavian main courses and dinners.)

I love your story of how your partner's son has made so much of one special family recipe. Personally, I've always wondered if I could make something of my German cookie recipe...

One year I DID take all the ingredients to bake them to my former step-mother's Norwegian cookie-baking party -- at her request.

But once I showed her how to make these cookies, she decided they were WAAAY too much work. She told me to keep making them every Christmas, and to please always gift her with some. But she didn't want to learn the recipe.

My daughter feels the same way: She's delighted to receive a plate of them at Christmas, but she has no desire to spend a whole day making them. which is what it takes...

So I guess that unless I figure out a way to pass on the recipe, or turn it into a business, it will likely die with me.