The Alv

Joanne S Hellberg

Growing up Scandinavian was a pleasure.  I was born in 1942 in Portland, Oregon.  My family was descended from Norwegian, Swedish Finn, and Swedish ancestors.  I remember stories about my grandmother Anna Lovisa Bur Rungren-Anderson, and the Scandinavian ladies sitting on their front porches drinking coffee and telling stories about the “gjente gubbes” (jente gubbes) or huldrefolk .

Because my grandmother spoke broken English, as a small child, I was not always sure what was said to me.  If company came to visit, Grandma Anna always had coffee bread or dessert to share with her Scandinavian friends.

At Christmas time, my Grandmother Anna, Aunt Esther, Uncle Royal and cousins would travel to Portland, Oregon.  My mother and relatives would serve Lute fish with a white sauce, crab and pickled herring, boiled potatoes and peas.  It was common that the Ball in Karistadt Schottische (Balen I Karistad Schottis) was played while we danced up and down the floor.  It was also very important to my grandmother that she attend the Lutheran Church, while she was in Portland. Grandma Anna would not attend any church but the Lutheran church.  She could recite, from memory, any and all Bible verses.  Sadly, the one and only Grandmother that I ever knew died when I was in grade school.

It is with great pleasure that this simple Christmas story tells how a Norwegian mouse, Thomas S. Tucker, and a Finish cat, Keisa Kitty, help a new friend Mr. Jingle Shoes find his way home.