MARK KIESLING: Raise a toast to keeping holiday traditions alive

I came up from Indiana to Chicago's North Side on an annual pilgrimage this week, strictly to fulfill a holiday tradition.

Turns out I wasn't the only one.

In this season, more so than any other one, it seems we return to our ethnic roots that lie dormant the rest of the year.

For me, it was a trip to Andersonville, the Scandinavian neighborhood around the area of Foster Avenue and Clark Street in Chicago.

The neighborhood's changed a bit since I was a kid. But even though the deli my aunt used to take us to is gone — it's some sort of Middle Eastern restaurant now — some things remain the same, and this is what I think comforts us.

Being part Norwegian on my mother's side, I try to continue some of the traditions I can remember from my grandmother's house in Chicago.

Not lutefisk, though. The lye-preserved cod is a bit too much for a lot of people to take, and my dad, a 100 percent German, out and out refused to touch it.

But while waiting in Erickson's Deli, I ran into Ray and Sylvia from Morton Grove who had come for the same reason I did: To gather food for a festive smorgasbord of a holiday table.

"It's sad, but I think in a generation or two this will all pass," Sylvia said. "I just don't think the kids are interested in keeping it alive."

Maybe not.

It used to be where going out for an ethnic dinner was limited to Italian, or maybe Polish or German.

In this day and age where a person can get everything from Thai to Moroccan to Mongolian, it's hard to keep them down on the Swedish farm.

I hope Sylvia and I are wrong about this. Now, I don't think either of us expects to see our kids devouring pickled herring, limpa, fiskebollar or potato sausage on any kind of daily basis. But it would be comforting to know that they do plan to pass the tradition on to their children at least at Christmas.

Finally, as a little tradition of my own, I would like to give a nod of my Santa hat to a couple of my loyal readers who sent me Christmas cards this year again.

Irene Michuda, of Highland, shared a hospital room with my mother a couple years back, and wrote a nice message to ask how she is doing and wish me a blessed holiday season.

She is doing pretty much the same, Irene. And I am glad to see your open heart surgery went well and that you are still up and at ’em writing Christmas cards.

One of my most loyal correspondents, Matt Bleicher, of Munster, also sent me a card and his is next to Irene's at my house.

So, thanks to you, and all those who have expressed similar holiday greetings. Please know they are returned.

The opinions are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at mark.kiesling@nwi.com or (219) 933-4170.