Days of Christmas

Christmas Eve in Norway is the big kick-off celebration to the entire Christmas season with Christmas Day marked as the official First Day of Christmas. 

Norwegians think Americans are crazy to try and celebrate Christmas the whole month of December with parties and gatherings, since it’s also the same time we are preparing for it.  Norwegians prepare the whole month, then don’t start the festivities until Christmas Eve.  The celebrations go right on through the Twelve Days of Christmas, so that by January 6^th, the party is over and life is back to normal.  Personally, I like their system much better.

Since Christmas Eve is the big formal dinner where families gather and open presents, Christmas Day is often pretty low-key where people eat leftovers and “slappe av” (relax).  Everyone – except me - thinks the food tastes better the second day, but I’m not too fond of reheated steamed lamb ribs - even on the first go-round.

Families enjoy a special togetherness on Christmas and sometime during the day it’s certain they’ll take a leisurely walk in the neighborhood or up in the mountains, no matter what the weather.

The Second Day of Christmas is also an official holiday, so no one works and all the stores are closed.  For those families with more than one stop to make at Christmas, having many days called “Christmas” takes a lot of stress out of this time of year.  Most businesses, even grocery stores, are closed completely during Christmas week, but if they are open, it’s for limited hours. 

Norwegians also have specific traditions around New Year’s Eve.  The exact same Christmas Eve menu is served because it’s the only time of year that special food is available - so they eat it as often as they can.  It’s also a day they dress formally, even if they aren’t going anywhere, and no one is coming over - people still sit around all day in a suit and tie or fancy dresses, just because that’s what they do on those days.  I found that a bit odd.

At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, fireworks go off all across the land as  it’s the only time of year they’re allowed.

Norwegians love their King and on New Year’s Eve he gives a speech that everyone anxiously gathers around their TV to watch.  On New Year’s Day, the Prime Minister addresses the nation.  Not as many people care about that speech though, so the government allows a special gambling scheme on that day to get people to listen.  Any adult can go on-line and place wagers on exactly which words might be included in the Prime Minister’s speech.  In 2008, the year we lived there, the obvious words like “crisis” or “America” had very low odds, but some out of the blue words, if predicted and used in the speech, could pay huge dividends.  It certainly makes listening to politicians more exciting.  Why didn’t we think of that?