It’s time to get ready for our family’s annual Julbord, a Christmas Eve tradition passed along by my Swedish grandparents Ed and Dagny Johnson. We more commonly call it a “smorgasbord” which a Swedish friend of mine translates as “lets clean out the refrigerator.” While that may be the way it once was, our smorgasbord these days involves much more than getting rid of leftovers.

On our Julbord table there’s always pickled herring (called “sill”), and Potatis Korv (potato sausage), along with Swedish meatballs, macaroni and cheese, shrimp and baked ham. Pickled beets and cucumbers, deviled eggs, and Janssons Temptation (a kind of scalloped potato dish) are family favorites. Sometimes head cheese and lutefisk (a tasty whitefish) show up too. And then there’s the bread – limpa (Swedish rye bread), or Vörtbröd (a denser rye “beer bread”), and hardtack. Spritz and ginger cookies, rice pudding and other wonderful Swedish treats adorn the dessert table.

But that’s not all!

Over the years, as we kids got married and had children of our own, other dishes were added to our Julbord.

Non-Swedish food.

Chinese chicken wings. Italian meatballs. American chop suey. Jello salad. Baked beans. Ambrosia. Daddy’s potato salad (brought by my wife Sandy). And the much-loved green-frosted Christmas Tree cake decorated with M&M’s by the grandkids!

Our Julbord has become a multi-ethnic smorgasbord!

Kind of like America.

Oh, how we worry these days about all those “other people” who want to have a seat at our American table.

Especially today when fear stalks the world and politicians find it advantageous to stoke the fear.

I guess we descendants of Ed and Dagny Johnson were also reluctant to welcome those others to our table, with all their different tastes and customs that brought change to our beloved Julbord tradition.

But to be honest, our family’s Swedish smorgasbord is better today than ever!

What a fabulous smorgasbord of delicious stuff we get to choose from these days! And it’s because of all the different people around the table! Even the grandkids have things they can enjoy more than head cheese and blood sausage!

So this Christmas Eve we will once again sit down together – in many different locations – with lots of old and new family members and friends.

We’ll raise a glass of Glögg and toast the arrival of Christmas when the most famous Swede of all – Jesus Joseph’s-son was born.

“God Jul!” y’all!