Christmas Decorations

Christmas decorations in the stores and homes of Norway are fairly simple.  Hearts are the main symbol of the Christmas season (to me, it felt way too much like Valentine’s Day, though).  Hearts represent God’s love so they put hearts on everything.  The dominate colors of Christmas are red and white but green is no where to be found on any holiday decorations. They don’t have snowmen decorations, and I never did see a nativity scene for sale in any of the stores, which I thought was odd. However, I did see a few angels and more than a few Julenissen (the Norwegian version of Santa). 

Some of the stores decorate in purple and silver, as purple is the official color of Advent.  Many people wear purple all month long, and at no other time of the year.  Purple clothes are definitely confined to December, which I also thought was a little odd.   

Linens of all kinds are huge in Norway year round, but at Christmas, people go all out using special Christmas linens to decorate.  Everyone even changes their kitchen curtains to some kind of Christmas fabric that usually matches their tablecloth or placemats.  Some people even have bedspreads just for the holiday. 

Tradition is that the first Sunday of Advent (four Sundays before Christmas), the lights go up – whether they are on the eves of houses (considered a bit excessive by some) or just electric candles in the windows (the norm.)  Many people also hang big paper stars in their windows.  The stars have holes in them so the tiny light bulb inside shines through, which is my favorite decoration.  Overall, I feel the Norwegian Christmas light displays are pretty lame though, compared to what we are used to in America.  Many people act so thrilled over having even just one extra light burning in the window.  I don’t understand that.

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 Rockerfeller Center in New York City with an explosion of light and color.  Not surprisingly, none of the photos were of trees from 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 on the whole thing.  For one strand of very basic white lights, 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.  I’m not sure, but I think the Norwegian word for “excess” is “American.”