My Family's Migration Story/Family Object
by Kerri Bastin
My maternal and paternal ancestors
are Norwegian, although different generations came to North America at
different times. Most of my great-grandparents were born in
Norway, with maybe one set on my father’s side born in Minnesota.
Both
sides of my family followed a similar path. From the late 1800’s to the
early 1900’s, one by one they boarded ships that brought them to Ellis
Island. From there they made their way to Minnesota where most of them
started farms. They did not stay for very long, though, before moving
their families to Saskatchewan, Canada. Both of my parents, my sister,
and I were born in Saskatchewan, as were most of my aunts, uncles,
cousins, and grandparents. When I was 3 years old, my parents moved us
to a small town in north central Montana called Havre, but we still
spent most of our weekends and summers and all holidays in Canada. 
I
still retain my Canadian citizenship to this day, but have been a
permanent resident since I was five. I was close to both sides of my
family, and still am today.
One object that is a part of our Norwegian heritage is lefse. 
Lefse
is like a large, fairly round, tortilla, except it is made with
potatoes. At every holiday and major event we always had lefse. It is
normally eaten with butter and sometimes sugar and rolled up. Christmas
would not be the same without lefse, or any special occasion for that
matter. To this day I still serve lefse at Christmas. It is one object
that not only reminds me of my Norwegian roots, but also of all of my
ties to my family in Canada.