Christmas Decorations

Christmas decorations in the homes and businesses of Norway are fairly simple, nothing at all like what we Americans are used to.  And since the main symbol of Christmas is a heart, I was in constant confusion over whether it was Christmas or Valentine’s Day, the year we lived in Norway.  

Hearts represent God’s love, so the Norwegians put hearts on everything at Christmas.  The dominate colors of the season are red and white, with our traditional American red and green color combo no where to be found in all the land.  In America, I have a snowman collection I bring out at Christmastime, but in Norway, I’ve never even seen a single thing with a snowman on it, which is ironic, considering the amount of snow they get.  I also thought it was odd there were no nativity scenes for sale anywhere.  However, I did see a few angel decorations for sale and more than a few Julenissen - the Norwegian version of Santa. 

Some homes and most of the stores decorate in purple and silver the month of December, as purple is the official color of Advent.  Many people wear purple clothes all month long, and then at no other time of the year.  A lot of purple candles get sold during Advent and then go on clearance right afterwards, because purple is a once-a year-use-only color.  Just like red means Christmas and yellow means Easter - those Norwegians are funny about their color-coded holidays.

Linens of all kinds are huge in Norway year round, but at Christmas, people go all out using special Christmas linens to brighten up their homes.  Women change out their kitchen curtains to some kind of Christmas fabric that often matches their tablecloth. 

Tradition is that the first Sunday of Advent, the lights go up – whether it’s a single lit star in a window or a “garish” strand of lights on the edge of a roof.  Overall, Norwegian Christmas light displays are pretty lame compared to what we are used to in America, but the Norwegians are just thrilled to have even just that one extra light burning in their window. 

While we were living in Norway, a friend sent me an email with photos attached of Christmas trees from around the world.  Most of them were on the scale of the Rockefeller Center in New York City, showing an explosion of light and color around the tree.  Not surprisingly, none of the photos were of trees in Norway. 

We attended our town’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony and honestly, the tree was at least twenty feet tall and there were maybe thirty lights total on the whole thing.  For one strand of very basic white lights, practically the whole town showed up to applaud the moment when someone flipped the switch. 

It was pretty pathetic and hard not to laugh out loud when the lights came on.  I’m not sure, but I think the Norwegian word for “excess” must be “American.”