"It's Christmas Eve at my grandparent's house. My family and I have spent every Christmas at their house except for 3, at least that I can remember. And for good reason.
The table is piled high with food. There's the food you normally have at Christmas-- ham, rolls, green salad, pies. Then there's the food that only my Norwegian grandparents would provide. Salmon, cooked until flaky and seasoned with lemon and herbs. Boiled potatos, with some spices and salt. Rodkal, boiled red cabbage (not my favorite, I'll admit). And for the desserts, rommegrot-- sour cream pudding flavored with butter, cinnamon and sugar. Rice cream, rice cooked in milk and mixed with whipped cream. The traditional fruit syrup sits next to the rice cream and I'm sure a hidden almond is in the rice cream somewhere for a lucky person to find. Krumkake, like very thin wafers in an ice cream cone shape and flavored with cardamom. If we're lucky we also get kransekake, the marzipan cake made up of tiny rings stacked on top of each other.
The tree is decorated and presents underneath. The normal decorations you see at Christmas are there, like ornaments and tinsel. But popcorn and berry strands circle the tree. What's most prominent about it are the strands of Norwegian flags all around the tree. Just in case you forgot we were Norwegian.
The house decorations are typical Christmas decorations too. Lights, hollyberries, stockings on the mantle. Oh and the Julenisse on the piano, to protect the family and farm animals (if we had any) from spirits roaming this Christmas Eve. Don't forget the "God Jul" (Merry Christmas in Norwegian) decor all over the house. Christmas trolls dot the coffee tables and wall alcoves. If that weren't enough, my grandparents greet each dinner guest at the door while wearing their Norwegian sweaters.
Then the celebrations begin. While to most families Christmas Day is the highlight of the holiday season, it's Christmas Eve to us. A large, wonderful dinner, followed by singing. Norwegian tradition has it that family and friends surround the tree and sing (much like How the Grinch Stole Christmas). But there are too many guests and the tree is in a corner, so everyone gathers around the piano and sings Christmas songs for an hour. After the guests leave and the house is cleaned up, my grandfather picks up his guitar and sings some Norwegian folk songs while the family sings along and the little ones dance.
The night is coming to a close. Stockings are filled, Luke 2 has been read and a prayer of thanks uttered. A bowl of rice cream, left out for Santa, is empty and put back in the cupboard. Someone readies the Norwegian waffle batter for the morning, our traditional breakfast while we open presents. I sneak some krumkake before bed and head off to dreams of plateus covered in snow, fjords with brilliant blue water, and the feel of the cold ocean on my cheeks.
It's been a great Norwegian Christmas."
Thanks a bunch Michelle. While Norway is not so dear to my heart, it is to Dustin's, and so it has been an influence on how we celebrate our Savior's Birth. We eat salmon and sing songs, there are decorated trees in every room and Dustin wears those itchy, wool sweaters... and we have trolls, those lovely things, on our mantel too.
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