Several of you have asked about the Norwegian traditional Christmas. Many of you have now finished Christmas and are back to everyday life, while we have only just started our celebrations.
Christmas starts on "lille julaften" (the day before Christmas Eve). For a week the farmers have been selling Christmas trees, and ours has been patiently waiting outside the garage to be carried into the warm livingroom.
On lille julaften the house is tidied and cleaned, and only then is the tree allowed indoors. From old traditions the parents decorated the tree after the children had gone to bed, but here in The House in the Woods we have always done the tree together. We have boxes of different homemade ornaments, but as you already know, this year my girls accused me to be so old fashioned that I could have been born before God, and they wanted a more stylish decor. I was allowed to use a few old memories, and we all hung almost 50 of these red baubles. We love the tree. Deep into the tree, hidden, is a glass pickle ornament, a tradition adapted from American friends. The first child to find the pickle on Christmas Eve morning will get a small gift (somehow Marta is always this child).
Christmas Eve is our main celebration, and it is the start of our celebrations which goes on till "trettende dag jul" (13th day of Christmas). Trettende dag jul is Epiphany and the day when the tree is undecorated, the gingerbread house is eaten and we sing Christmas out. On "trettende dag" we also lit the special tree armed epiphany candle.
The Christmas days are busy with parties. Our huge diningroom table is covered in a red tablecloth and at all times of the day I set the table with my Spode china, filling the plates with cookies and cakes, sweets, nuts and fruits. And after the long meals and coffee breaks the table is a perfect place for board games. This year Rummy and Settlers are the favorites.
In one corner of the table Marta has set up a log house which my father in law made for the boys when they were small. In the log house lives a collection of "nisser" (a Scandinavian kind of santas) and she can sit there and play with them for hours.
Though most of the cookies were made before Christmas, Marta still loves to play in the kitchen. Last night, when we got a few "extra hours" (a family who was supposed to come for coffee, cookies and playing games had to cancel due to illness), Marta found the rest of the marzipan from my creamcake baking the day before, and suddenly she called from the kitchen "the marzipan sweets are ready".
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So we will keep Christmas here for still a week, as we try to keep the Christmas spirit all year (Marta and I were in the theatre yesterday to watch A Christmas Carol). My blog will turn to other topics though, travel memories, reflections, family life, books music..........and whatever I decide to blog about.
If you follow the links given in this post you will be taken to other Christmas memories from The House in the Woods.
The cream cake recipe will be up in The Blue Café later today
Here you can find Merisi's wonderful 12 Days of Christmas posts.
