Scandinavian spirits and Skål to my Dad

Well that’s Swedish and is supposed to have a tiny o over the a as in Skol!)  It’s hard to believe that it was 30 years ago today that my Dad died at age 82.   So I’m thinking about him…and I’ve always loved this very soft photo of him , his “engagement picture” - 1930..  He and my Mom weren’t married til 1936 as the times were so uncertain, and I wasn’t born til 1940 so this was 10 years before I knew hm.   He was a great Dad.  I was the apple of his eye.  Altho he was born in Chicago, his parents returned to Sweden for about 12 years and 3 more siblings before coming back to live in Brooklyn.. He went to Pratt Institute in Architecture and some engineering but eventually ended up with a small basement-started business manufacturing his creation - a capping machine that screwed caps on bottles on an assembly line… Mom was his secretary/accountant/everything.  He was very handy and artistic….he could build anything.  And he had a very funny quirky sense of humor …always playing practical jokes…
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And….. he loved his cocktails!    Especially at Christmastime.   The tall glass is an aquavit glass that belonged to his parents…(brought from Sweden I'm positive)  surprisingly I just learned that this week in Seattle is the first official Seattle Aquavit week Dec 6-12, celebrating traditional Scandinavian Spirits.! ! The Nordic Heritage Museum just launched an exhibit called “Skål ! Scandinavian spirits”  which I will have to see. There are apparently 30 different Aquavits in production in this country… Who knew that?  We’ve sometimes had a Norwegian bottle Linne (or Linie) in our freezer that proved it had been across the equator and back in the hold of a ship (apparently the rocking is good for it?)   Aquavit is a strong “botanical digestif” native to Scandinavia—-produced like a gin, but with the primary spice being caraway, not juniper. -We drank it xmas eve in Stockholm followed by a beer chaser.   Well I do not remember ever using these lovely glasses at our Christmas Eve dinners my Mom always had, but I do remember the Glögg (think 2 dots over that o) that he was famous for and served in these dainty little punch cups Christmas Eve.  Glögg is a wonderfully aromatic spiced port wine based hot drink with added bourbon rum AND brandy, the way my Dad made it.   We kept up that tradition for many years but had to give it up —too much alcohol.   You couldn’t have more than one of these little punch cups!   Even tho’ he always lit a match to the pot before serving it.  I always loved that part- when that flame went whoosh, hopefully not singeing eyebrows.     We’d make it for neighbors who talked about it for weeks,  but always ended up throwing the leftovers including raisons, prunes, orange peels, cloves etc away in the summer….

So here’s to you, Dad.  I think about you often when I look at son #2 and his son, Niklas, who are built just  the same…very lanky...   Maybe we’ll find a wee bit of aquavit (not easy to find the real stuff here, for such a Scandinavian town...)for a real Scandinavian toast on Christmas Eve….I want to get out these glasses!

Skål!

Edit!  THANK YOU to wildwood who taught me how to write with Swedish letters!!!!