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Tonight we took part in a Swedish Christmas tradition which we’d never heard of before. And there was me thinking I’d heard of all of them. This one is called uppesittarkväll and is great fun. KSP suggested we take part in front of our giant TV. So, tonight, we gathered, highlighters poised, numbers waiting. The excitement was palpable.
Coincidentally, Captain Roger popped in just before our early dinner to declare that he, too, was going to watch and participate in uppesittarkväll.
The programme, on TV4, goes for about four hours and features guests singing, reading poetry, making food, and being, generally, upbeat and festive. The world’s smallest stagehand put in quite a few appearances, as well as a somewhat gruff and aggressive Santa. I can see why it’s become a big thing. At the conclusion of the show, I wanted to start again, I enjoyed it so much. But, of course, I’ll have to wait until next year.
It all started in 1995 when Leif “Loket” Olsson hosted the first TV event. By 2022, over 4 million Uppesittaren were being sold each year. And the surplus on ticket sales goes to local clubs and organisations. It is featured at the Nordiska Museet as one of the most popular TV shows in Swedish history, alongside, naturally, Donald Duck.
Swedish tradition was not so good in our house though. I had planned to make meatballs for dinner given it’s relatively quick and easy. I started on them at 7:30, mixing and rolling the balls while the others slept.
A goodly number of hours later, when I cooked them, they all fell apart. I don’t know why. When I told Mirinda and Jason to come and have dinner, I christened it deconstructed meatballs. “They taste and smell the same but look like so much hash.“
They were ready for a break, as they’d recently completed the decorating of the tiny Christmas tree with our ridiculously huge collection of yuletide ephemera. It is so huge that, it seems, we have an ugly box of ornaments that only get displayed if we have room. I was completely unaware of this.
Jason finished the tree off with the traditional placement of the Toilet Roll Madonna.
Note that when KSP saw how dominant her homemade pot holders were, she moved them down to a lower, less obvious branch.
Anyway, throughout the day, I was busy in the kitchen, making mince pies and shortbread. Lots of shortbread. As well as the royal icing for my cake. I’m very pleased to say that the mince pies were all eaten during the evening and a good deal of the julboken shaped shortbread. And my cake was successfully iced.
Of course, I was competing with Jonas and his saffron buns (spectacular) and an amazing saffron and almond cake that had no flour. Many taste buds were tickled and teased. It was a very sugary evening.
It was a tiring but fun day which saw me cross everything off my list, including the things I missed yesterday.
I should add that, while some of us came very close to the big money, only KSP and Josefine actually won anything. The went home, each 100kr richer.
A very successful evening.
