Tradition influences choice of Christmas meals in Grand Forks, area homes during the holidays

Dec. 23—GRAND FORKS — Many families in this area look forward to the special traditional foods and meals that are served as part of their Christmas celebration.

Whether the star of the meal is a mouthwatering baked ham or juicy prime rib, many cooks serve the same festive foods as a Christmas custom. Generations of family members expect it.

Some foods are considered a "must-have" because they represent the family's heritage or ethnic background, while others have simply become family favorites.

For the past 35 years or so, the Christmas Eve table of LeAnn Rindt and her family has featured fondue as its centerpiece. The fondue, a portable communal pot heated with a candle or other heat source, originated in Switzerland and gained popularity here as a great way to warm up on a cold winter's night.

"It started as a way to keep the kids' attention until it was time to open gifts," said Rindt of Grand Forks. "It worked beautifully!"

The family has adhered to the custom, which affords a variety of options for those who favor tabletop cooking as a fun, shared experience.

"As years have gone by, it is the most requested and well-loved memory of our Christmas Eves together," Rindt said.

Her family enjoys the different choices that the fondue allows, whether it's dipping a long fork into a pot of warm melted cheese, chocolate or even caramel, or one with hot boiling oil or broth.

"We always have one with cheese, and chunks of crusty bread to dip," Lindt said. "The second is oil for tender chunks of beef or shrimp and vegetables."

Broth works OK for veggies but not meat, she noted, as it lacks color appeal when boiled.

"Four people can share one fondue pot typically."

Lindt has tried different types of dessert, such as chocolate with fruit or cake, for fondue dipping, "but most are too full to want dessert," she said.

"Our family has grown and they carry on the (fondue) tradition in their homes if they can't be with us," she said.

"Grandchildren need close supervision and assistance," she cautioned, "but they enjoy it too."

Eileen Tompkins, who was born and raised in Maine, grew up with the tradition of oyster stew on Christmas Eve, she said. "I'm not sure where it started in my family, but I know my grandparents did it.

"So when we moved to North Dakota with our two sons in 1969, the tradition continued," said Tompkins of Grand Forks. "I always bought fresh oysters and used my mom's recipe.

"My sons love it; most of my grandchildren love it as well, and now my great-grandchildren are trying it! It's such a great family tradition!"

Following the Norwegian tradition, Cindy Dahl of Grand Forks will be making several Scandinavian specialties when she celebrates the Christmas holidays with her boyfriend in Las Vegas.

They are adept at making a variety of traditional Norwegian foods, Dahl said. "We make krumkake, kransekake (a Norwegian layer cake of successively smaller rings) and all sorts of things."

For Christmas, they'll make Norwegian flatbread, she said.

During the Thanksgiving holiday this year, they made 15 pounds of lefse, she said. "Last year, we did 30 pounds and just about killed ourselves."

Nygard, who's originally from Grafton, North Dakota, "is a very good cook," she said, "and is quite the baker."

"He's 100% Norwegian," said Dahl, a member of the local Sons of Norway Gyda Varden Lodge. She met him when she and a girlfriend joined a tour his family was taking in Norway in 2014, and they've been dating — and making Norwegian foods — ever since.