@brittarnhild
Finally December is here. We woke up to a dark and rainy day, the best outdoor weather to make the best of the indoor candles! In Marta's advent calendar gift this morning was a special candle marked with 24 numbers, with number one on the top. When we burn it we will burn one number each day untill number 24 which is Christmas Eve :-) It was easy to wake up Marta for school this morning, she was of course eager to open her first gift.
Let me today first explain that a lot of the things I write about here is not typical Norwegian traditions. Over the years I have created many of my own traditions and mix them with traditions from my own and my husband's childhood. So the advent basket which I will probably write about a lot, is my very own "creation", to give me fun during this special month of December. Actually in Norway we are not used to start decorating the house until the 23rd, the night before Christmas Eve, which we call "lille julaften", Little Christmas Eve. It has become more common though to start decorating earlier, but
absolutely no indoor Christmas trees are up yet! The huge trees in town centers were lit last night though. It is a tradition for Norwegian towns to give Christmas trees to several European cities. You might by now have heard the story about the tree Trondheim gave Hamburg in Germany this year. It was in perfect condition when it was cut down outside Trondheim some few weeks ago, then on it's way south to Germany it was hit by a storm in the North Sea, and the tree which is to be seen in Hamburg today is something we are not proud of. Politicians and other people are now working hard to try to find a solution to this problem.
Back to my day. It is Monday, and therefore a long and hard workday for me and my dh. When we came home, after picking up Marta at daycare at school, dh and I made dinner together. We never do this,
usually one of us work longer, so it really felt like a blessing the two of us working together in the kitchen, and when it was finished sit down in our diningroom with our four kids. Such small things, everyday life, means a lot to be, may be another advent calendar should be; count my blessings!
After dinner I sat down with Marta to watch children's television. Children's television is really a "Norwegian speciality". For years and years we had only one television channel in Norway. It was owned by the state, still is by the way, and it was a policy to be pedagogical. So at 6pm for about 50 years now it is in Norway time for "barneTV" ie; children's television. And for almost all this time there has been special series during the month of December, the telly's advent calendar. Many series, all Norwegian, has been made over the years, and they kind of rotate the series over the years. This year it is "jul I Skomakergata" (Christmas in Shoomaker street) I'm not sure, but it must be about 30 years old, which means I have seen it many times before, but Marta cannot remember
to have seen it. It brings back so many childhood memories to see it again :-)
While we were watching our neighbours, an old lady and her daughter of my age, called and invited Marta and me over for coffee. The lady told us that she is sewing Christmas aprons for Marta and me and needed some measures. So we went over and had a very nice time together - another blessing, and it is still only December 1st:-)
I have now read the first chapter of Jostein Gaarder's The Christmas Mystery for Marta. The book has 24 chapters, one for each day till Christmas, and in our family we have read it for 10 years now. It makes me a little sad that our three oldest kids feel they are too old for it, or may be they have heard it too many times, though while we were reading today 14 years old Ingrid came and wanted to listen.
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