Norwegians spend Christmas with their families. Some travel to other cities in Norway. Students come home, families head to their parents’ hometown. Grandparents, parents and children get together. There’s a Norwegian Christmas series that shows what a typical Xmas looks like, with lots of humor. I wrote about it on the post about best Christmas tv shows here.
Norwegian government’s safety measures due to Corona virus pandemic: each household should have maximum 10 guests for two gatherings. Everybody should keep 1 meter distance, and 2 meters distance from grandparents or others in risk group. The biggest concern it with those who travel from a city with high Covid-19 rates to a city with low rate. It’s expected more spread in Norway after Christmas time. And omicron.
Note: The cover picture was taken at Arena Trenningssenter, a gym in Rogaland. I’m so happy that we can still go to the gym.
Clothes. On Christmas eve, everybody dresses formally. Suits and tie for men and nice dresses for women. On this occasion, shoes are allowed inside the houses.
It’s ok to break a little the formality by having funny Xmas accessories: ties, hat, head, earrings, etc.
Food. The most traditional Christmas dish is pinekjøtt (lamb ribs). They are salty and sooooo good. It takes a long time to prepare. I try not to eat so much since they are heavy. Side dishes are potatoes, rutabaga purée and other roots. See the picture. They are bought salted and dried, smoked or not. You need to soak it in order to release the salt and reconstitute the meat.
Julebrød, Julebrus, Julemat, Julekort, Juledessert, all those words added Christmas to them and then the word becomes special. Christmas bread, soda, food, card, dessert.
perfect with brunost (brown cheese)
Drink. Red wine is a must have. Saft for the kids. Gløgg and coffee for dessert.
Dessert. It varies from region to region. We have caramel pudding in Stavanger. Also rice porridge.
Opening the presents. It’s formal too. After dinner, coffee and dessert, we all sit on the sofas in the living room to officially open the presents. They are all placed under the Xmas tree. Children usually get a lot of presents. Each person opens one present while the others sit and watch.
My rule each year is: one present in, one used toy or piece of clothes out for donation. What about you, do you usually donate clothes or something else to those in need?
Quiz. This is super popular among Norwegians. Kind of trivia. The most famous is Kahoot. Check my post about Xmas activities here.
Have a wonderful Christmas Eve. Let’s remember that, no matter what problems we may have right now, there’s always something to be thankful for and reasons to make others happy. 🙂
More Christmas backstage on my Instagram.
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