Christmas

Norwegians traditionally put up their Christmas tree on December 23rd.  The year we lived in Norway, it was hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit without the tree dominating our living room the entire month of December.  Once the tree is up, they delight in setting it in the center of the room, joining hands, then dancing around it, singing traditional songs.  Since there were only the three of us, we skipped that tradition, as we couldn’t fit around the tree and we didn’t know the songs we were to sing.  We also skipped the tradition of lighting real candles clamped onto the branches, as my fears of a house fire won out.  We opted for the more modern electrical version of the clamp on candles and they worked just fine, without all the worries.

  

The typical Norwegian Christmas Eve is well scripted, and I dare say, there are not many variations on the theme. Men and boys dress up in suits and ties, women and girls wear their fanciest dresses. It is the height of formality and it would be a serious sign of disrespect to be in anything less.

There is a bit of a mad dash Christmas Eve morning as people drive around dropping off gifts at different houses.  No one opens any gift from anyone until after dinner. To me, it was weird they don’t open it in front of the person who gave it to them, but they don’t.  

Every church has a Christmas Eve service, sometime between one and three in the afternoon. Stores close by one o’clock so as not to compete with church attendance.  The big Christmas dinner at home follows immediately afterwards.

In our part of Norway, everyone eats the same traditional meal of steamed lamb ribs, sausages, boiled root vegetables and sauerkraut - with nary a green thing on the plate.  Rice pudding is always served afterwards.  Whoever gets dished up the one almond hiding in the pudding gets a special prize - usually a marzipan candy pig. That tradition goes way back, but how the pig became part of their Christmas traditions remains a mystery.

After dinner, the gifts start flowing. Most parents give just one gift to each family member and everyone watches as each one is opened.  Since big gatherings are common that night, it’s a long evening.  After a few hours, there is a break for coffee and dessert, then back to the gifts.  At some point, Julenissen comes knocking on the door with a bag of little treats for “all the good boys and girls.”  This Norwegian Santa wears a Halloween type face mask, along with a red and white suit, but he’s far from believable, if not a bit scary looking.

We held to some of our own American traditions that year, so I was a bit worried the Christmas police might show up at our house the next morning since we waited to open our gifts until then, and there were not one, but ten gifts with Kaleb’s name on them.  It’s how we Americans do the “merry” part of Christmas.  

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.”

Christmas Foods

When I was growing up, spring cleaning was a ritual that happened just before Easter, but in Norway, the big time cleaning happens right before Christmas.  Everyone goes crazy cleaning all their nooks and crannies so the house looks spotless for the holidays. 

All the women I know in Norway just love Christmas.  They love the lights, candles, decorations, special foods, visits and traditions.   My Norwegian teacher said she thinks the reason people busy themselves so much with cleaning and baking is because it gives them something to do while they wait out the darkest month of the year.  She said part of the excitement of Christmas is knowing that the sun is about to turn and the short days are soon behind them.   

All kinds of delicacies and culinary treats dominate the stores and homes in December.  The thrill of the Christmas season is all about the food, according to my husband. The year we lived in Norway, my son, Kaleb, and I got hooked on “Julebrus” - Christmas pop, even though we aren’t normally pop drinkers.  Norwegian pop is sweetened with real sugar, not the high fructose corn syrup we use in America, and the difference is noticeable. 

Special cookies, breads, soups and candies also become available during Advent in Norway.  They even sell a Christmas beer, which goes well with the special sausages and different kinds of meats also only available during the holidays. 

Lamb is a staple in Norway year round but it’s cured in a unique way just for Christmas and every Norwegian I knew licked their lips just thinking about eating it for Christmas Eve dinner.  Kory used to anxiously wait all year for the taste of Spekkekjøtt, a dried and heavily salted leg of lamb.  A Norwegian specialty store in Seattle sells it so he’d be giddy the entire hour long drive every year just to buy it, but then I’d make him keep it and eat it in the garage because it stinks up the house too much.  Thankfully, those days are behind us now as his vegan diet eliminates all those odoriferous Norwegian delicacies like lutefisk, pickled herring and dried sausages.

Christmas in Norway is more like Thanksgiving in America, since it’s primarily about food and fellowship - minus the thankfulness. 

Gift giving has never been a big part of Christmas in Norway, until the last few decades when their economic status allowed for such frivolity.  It took a few years after I married my very Norwegian husband, to fully understand just why he never bought me Christmas gifts.  It wasn’t a case of neglect, he said, he is just a product of his culture and upbringing.  He never got gifts as a child, so he doesn’t see the point of doing gifts now as an adult. I have adapted and now buy my own presents. And now that he can’t eat his beloved spekkekjøtt, he knows exactly how I feel. 

Advent

There is big excitement in Norway when Advent season starts.  I spent my whole life not knowing what “Advent” meant, so the tradition was a new one for me. 

Advent is huge in Norway as it begins the arrival of the Christmas season.  Special candles get lit on each of the four Sundays before Christmas to “light the way” in anticipation of Jesus’ birth.  It’s all very symbolic and special. I’m glad we got to go through it in Norway where the whole country celebrates this tradition, even if they aren’t professing Christians.

Norway used to be known as a “Christian” nation but they recently changed that to “secular and Christian,” as there are nearly as many professing “humanists” as “Christians.”  Many believe in the Bible and that Jesus is God’s son and He died on the cross and rose again, but they brush it off with, “We just don’t take it personally.”  

Advent is not so much about religion any more, as it is tradition.  There’s not a house in the land that doesn’t have some kind of light in their window for Advent – either a lit star, or an electric set of candles that sit on an upside down V in the windowsill.  Many houses have lights shining in every window and none of them get turned on before the first day of Advent, which is this coming Sunday.

There is a great deal of conformity in Norway as no one would dare turn on their lights early because, “You just don’t do that.”  That’s a phrase I often heard about many things.  There’s a lot of pride in everyone doing things properly, and no one “over does it” with Christmas lights like some American’s do.  They laugh a great deal at our excessive and garish ways.  Most people use only white lights, too.  I guess colored ones are a bit too gaudy by Norwegian standards.

The calendar fills up during Advent, as it’s by far the busiest season of the year.  The State Church and schools send out flyers with all the different events going on in December.  My son’s school held a special kick-off party the first day of Advent with the lighting of the school’s Christmas tree at five o’clock on a Sunday.  The school band played a few Christmas songs, the drill team performed a little march to one of the tunes, and after a quick speech, the lights came on the tree and everyone cheered.  They handed out gingersnap cookies, tangerines and hot Glogg  - a very tasty Scandinavian Christmas drink.  All of this took place outside on the school playground in below freezing temperatures. 

The hardiness of Norwegians is very impressive, especially when they brave the elements of nature.  I’m sure, had it been raining hard or even snowing, the show would have still gone on to a packed house. 

It’s funny, they seem to have put God in a box, but they sure don’t want to be there themselves.

Thanksgiving

Pulling off the traditional Thanksgiving meal the year we lived in Norway was a bigger challenge than I anticipated. I couldn’t get all the ingredients I needed and I felt it nearly miraculous I even found a whole turkey.  A nine pounder was as big as I could buy, about half the size I’m used to cooking.

Knowing the holiday was before us, I asked some American friends that came for a visit months earlier, if they wouldn’t mind bringing me items I quickly discovered weren’t available in Norway. I wouldn’t have been able to make a pumpkin pie if they hadn’t brought canned pumpkin, vanilla and brown sugar. A Norwegian cousin also made a quick trip to Kansas for his job, so he brought me back pecans for pecan pie, otherwise that wouldn’t have been on the menu, either.

Trying to find spices like nutmeg and cloves proved expensive and very frustrating.  All the foil packages of spices had the exact same illustration on the outside and their Norwegian names were a total mystery.  I bought several packages then opened them up like Christmas presents to see what was inside. I ended up with several unusable powders I didn’t recognize. Unfortunately, I never found everything I needed, but I seemed to be the only one that noticed flavors were missing from the recipes.

My favorite cornbread recipe has a can of creamed corn in it. I was so bummed that I couldn’t make it because not only is creamed corn not available, but I couldn’t even find any cornmeal. I thought I hit the jackpot one day when I bought a box of something with a picture of corn on the front, but soon discovered it was cornstarch.

We still had much to be thankful for though, and we were glad to share our American holiday with our Norwegian relatives.

As is our tradition, we went around the table and everyone said two things they were thankful for but it took some of them a while to come up with something, as giving thanks isn’t really a Norwegian thing. It was fun to watch their expressions as they tasted foods they’ve never seen, like stuffing and yams with marshmallows. Surprisingly, the pumpkin pie didn’t go over too well - they all said it must be an acquired taste - but we were glad for that - all the more for us.

Except for eating turkey and pumpkin pie, it didn’t feel much like our traditional Thanksgiving back home because both Kaleb and I had to go to school that day and the day after.

The night before, when I baked the pies, I stuck the knife in to see if they were done. I let Kaleb lick the knife, and with a dreamy lilt in his voice, he said, “Ahhhh, it tastes like home.” And I guess that is what was missing on that Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving is an all American holiday that plays out best at home.