Christmas this year was very fun, but also very different from what I am used to. I am used to being woken up at seven in the morning by my little brother. Then opening the presents in our stockings, then the presents from Santa, and the the presents form the family a little bit later. Then, my dad usually makes breakfast with the new kitchen tool he got for Christmas. And next we get dressed and go up to my Aunt's house for a Christmas dinner with the entire family.
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| A Christmas of white! |
This year I celebrated on a different day, in a different way, and with different people. It was very interesting and I enjoyed it a lot. Instead of celebrating on the 25th of December we celebrated on the 24th. The 24th is know as Christmas Eve, but in Norway it is Julaften. I also was able to experience a white Christmas this tear and that was super fun!
On the morning of the 24th I woke up and found a stocking laying next to my bed. The stocking even had a traditional Norwegian pattern on it. I went upstairs with my sister and opened the presents in the stocking, while we were sitting next to the Christmas tree, so cozy! I got a few presents and a lot of candy. My host mom was very cute, in that she got me tea and a tea strainer so I can send it home, that way I wouldn't have to live without my tea that I have become so addicted to since I have been here :-). I also got wool socks and notebooks. You know you are in Norway when you are excited to get wool socks for a Christmas present.
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| The stocking next to my bed on Christmas morning |
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| The contents of my stocking. Yes, I even got American flag socks... |
Then we got called in to eat breakfast. Guess what we had for breakfast?!? We had pickled herring and onions. It wasn't bad. I haven't decided if I like it yet. It had a very unique and interesting flavor that I have not experienced before. My family said it tasted like Christmas to them, to me it just tasted like fish and onions...
Next we went out and watched traditional Norwegian Christmas television, which actually isn't Norwegian at all. We saw a Cinderella Christmas movie that was from the Czech Republic and was really badly dubbed in Norwegian. The same guy had all the characters voices, and the original voices of the characters was not taken away, so you could still her the Czech under the Norwegian, it was very strange. Then there was a British short film. It was of a butler named James and Miss Sophie. There were imaginary people at the dinner party, James always tripped over a Tiger rug, and James always asked "Same procedure as last year Miss Sophie", and she would always reply, "Same procedure as every year, James." It had absolutely nothing to do with Christmas and did not really even have a plot at all, but I guess it is tradition to watch it in Norway. Then we watched a Christmas Disney special, form America. I have actually never seen it before, but it was kind of cute.
Then, we all got ready for dinner and Christmas evening. In Norway, you have to dress fancy for Christmas, not like int he United States where you wear pajamas and maybe jeans or a dress for dinner. For Christmas, most of the family came. There was both grandmothers and my host father's sister and her family. My host mother's brother and his family couldn't come because first of all they live in Trondheim and second, they were in Belgium for Christmas.
For dinner we had traditional Norwegian Christmas food: pinneschøtt, kolarabistoppa, and potatoes. Pinneshøtt is a salty meat that is steamed and it looks like ribs. Kolarabistoppa (I am not actually sure how it is spelled) is mashed carrots and rutabaga, it is really good. Then there are the potatoes, the infamous staple of Norwegian cuisine. Then for dessert we had cloud berry cream with a small cake. That was absolutely delicious! I loved it. Cloud berries are found in the North of Norway and that is where my host mother is form. They are kind of like a better version of a raspberry.
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| My host mom preparing the pinneshøtt. |
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| The table before dinner. |
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| The extremely good cloud berry creme we had for dessert. |
After dinner, everyone made their way to the living room to have coffee and cookies. Then, we opened presents when 11 year-old cousin couldn't wait any longer. For each present, the person that was handing out presents announced who it was to and from, then gave it to the person to open. The idea was to see everyone open every present that they received but that only worked for about three presents then it turned into a minor chaos. But it was fun. My favorite presents, I must say, came from my host family. My host mom knitted me a traditional sweater and they also gave me a silver necklace that was in the shape of Norway with a diamond where Sandefjord is.
After presents we had more coffee, then we had the traditional Norwegian krumsikake! That was really good. I expected it to taste like a crunchy cookie by the way it looked, but tasted more like a pound cake that was in a circle. But it was fantastic. And on the sides of the cake there were little things that looked like candy, but they were actually little things that you popped and there were jokes inside, the jokes were really bad though. Then we had more coffee, more cake, more cookies, and more chocolate. Then the adults talked, while Everyone under the age of 25 played board games and card games.
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| The tree and the presents. |
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| The family talking after dinner. |
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| Me and Frosty <3 |
Then, on the 25th, we basically just relaxed all day. But, my sister and I built a snowman, that was one of my goals this Christmas holiday, was to build a snowman!
Then on the 26th we went to one of the relatives house for dinner. There we had tradtional ribbe, which is like a rib but it looks like there are three different type of meat in one piece and there it a crunchy crust on top. Also, meatballs, sausage, and potatoes. There was also rødkål and surkål, but I don't like those. It is like pickled cabbage.
So Christmas is technically over, but it doesn't feel like it because we still have the tree up and the radio is still playing a lot of Christmas music. Anyway, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
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