It’s traditional in Sweden to serve seven kinds of cookies when having people over for coffee, and to that end I’ve been baking most of the afternoon in preparation for our hosting the family Christmas Eve festivities tomorrow afternoon. So far I’ve made butterscotch brownies, Brazilian coffee cookies, candy cane cookies, acorn cookies, ingefärssnittar**, and two mini-gingerbread rolls. I’ve also made a pumpkin roll cake and a gingerbread roll cake, and I’ve got dough in the fridge for gingerbread men.

In addition to the goodies, I’ll be making a wild cabbage pie (that name loses a lot in translation), homemade meatballs, deviled eggs, and praline-topped sweet potatoes. This is the first time we’re hosting Christmas, and though I’m not making much of the main meal, there’s still been a lot to do. We haven’t even started cleaning yet, so it looks like it might be a late night. Wish me luck.

*Seven kinds of cookies
**ginger something … wedges, maybe; it doesn’t translate well