It’s that time of year again – when Norway is at its darkest, but also its most magical! I love Christmas in Norway, and I love how perfectly Norwegian Christmas here is. Norwegian Christmas is just so reliable – there are some things that are guaranteed to happen here every holiday season.
The mountains are covered in sparkly snow
It’s not always snowy in the cities, but the mountains in Norway are pretty much guaranteed a white Christmas. So if you’re longing for a white Christmas, you know where to head!
There’s an entire section in the supermarket dedicated to Christmas marzipan
Christmas marzipan is serious business here!
The sweet smell of lutefisk is in the air
Maybe sweet isn’t the word I was looking for there…
All your friends are stressing over buying outfits for their julebord, or “Christmas table” dinner parties
You’ll have one with your work colleagues, you’ll have one with your friends, you’ll have a special girls one with those same friends, and you’ll even have one with the people you watch football with.
Your fingers are swollen from rolling so many piping hot krumkaker
The insides of houses are so brightly lit you’re a tiny bit worried they’ve caught on fire
Norwegians always use a lot of lights, but during Christmas the love of lighting goes to an extreme – and good thing too, since this is also the darkest time of the year. However foreigners might be surprised to find that not many people here decorate the outside of their homes with lights – it’s all about the cozy interiors!
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Everyone has deserted the cities for cabins in the mountains
As someone who lives in one of those mountain cabins year-round, Christmastime in the mountains is crazy – there are so many people!
Your cross-country skis are waxed and ready for a busy week in the snow
Everyone is buying tubs of a mysterious pink goop called medisterfarse
This one is still a mystery to me – I’m not even sure if it’s meant to be eaten or if people are using it to glue Christmas decorations together.
You’re drinking bright red julebrus, or “Christmas soda,” with every meal
And you’re probably enjoying that julebrus with a nice Christmas sausage, or a Christmas apple if you’re trying to be healthy.
Everything is red
The color of pretty much every Norwegian Christmas ornament ever made.
All your neighbors have tied bundles of Christmas wheat outside their homes for the birdies to snack on
Edit: A reader just informed me that it’s actually oats!
Milk cartons are suddenly covered with little Christmas elves
All that ever seems to be on TV these days is those Christmas calendar talk shows
Seriously, how do they manage to be on every single channel all the time?!
Norwegians are adding the word “Christmas” before every noun
Christmas soda, Christmas table, Christmas wheat, Chrismas marzipan, Christmas calendar, Christmas sausage, Christmas elves, Christmas cookies, Christmas apples…
What do you think – have I missed anything?
God jul!
Mmmmmmm…. Julebrussss. I was very picky with my Julebrus actually. And I hated Marzipan, but every once in a while I could tolerate some of the sticks covered in chocolate with coconut ‘snowflakes’. When I lived in Bergen, Christmas didn’t start until Pepperkakebyen opened. I loved the work up of Christmas in Norway. Then I always traveled on the actual day and week after 😛
I don’t like marzipan either! It’s really sad. And my grandmother always buys the orange julebrus when I really love the red one, aaaah the frustrations of Christmas! Haha
but now you work where they sell the julebrus, right? this year, you get to take it into your won hands!
Oooh, I had the julebrus when I was in Norway in October! That stuff is really good, and I don’t even like soda.
I’m exactly the same! Julebrus is the only soda I drink, ha.
I adore the orange!!! I waa pregnant with my youngest son when we lived there and I existed on it!! And salt og pepper chips.. oh I deool just remembering!! The first snow and that peaceful quiet…. thw sweetness of heaven on earth!! And thw Norwegian people are the most polite on thw planet! I love you one amd all Norwegian peoples!!
Fresh made lefse!!
Yes! Lefse!
It’s funny, so many people have added lefse to this list! I always thought of lefse as a year-round thing, but now I’m thinking I need to added it to my Christmas baking list!
You’ve made a heaping batch of fattigman.
Ooooh yes, excellent addition! And so Norwegian.
The last picture looks a lot like my small home in Hudson, Wisconsin–the ground is white, my juleneg is hung outside, the tree is decorated with red and straw, and a couple of jule nisse are hiding out! Glade Jul alle sammen!
Oh wow that sounds so koselig! Christmas in Wisconsin must be beautiful (I have family in Madison but have only visited in the summer).
Lille Juleaften (The day before Christmas eve) was when the house was a total mess (on purpose) then they cleaned it all up for Juleaften (Christmas eve) the tree was lit, and then it was Juleaften. Not before. My sad memory of Canada is that they start already in late november. It all for the merchants. Christmas is not Xmas. It is a day to celebrate the birth of Christ. God Jul. Geir
Haha I hadn’t heard of having a messy house on lille juleaften! My family usually waits to put up our tree until then, instead of late November like a lot of people. Then again, we tend to leave our tree up way later than most people!
Christmas in Norway is a bit more than that. First off, there is no such thing as bundles of wheat being set out for the birds, but of oats. It is a big difference.
Second off, the Christmas foods. Traditional Christmas dinners vary from where you come from in Norway. On the coastal islands freshly caught cod, some times salted over night is the tradition. In Voss they serve mutton heads that are smoked. All along the west coast they serve salted and dried sheep’s ribs that later are soaked in water over night, then steamed, In some areas the sheep’s ribs are also smoked.
In the North the Lutefish is the big tradition, and in the south and east they either have spare ribs, or a Christmas ham, depending on how close you are to former Danish trading ports, or the border of Sweden.
Of course the traditions have spread all around the country as people have moved around, but they haven’t taken over for the local dishes in the new places where they are served.
Another reader actually already pointed out that it’s wheat, not oats, which is why I added the comment that it’s oats in the article. It’s really interesting to hear about the different regions! My family in Telemark always has lutefisk a little before Christmas, and then either pinnekjøtt or spare ribs on Christmas. Never heard of having smoked mutton heads though!
It’s oats that is sold in Bergen, hence why we can’t find it here in the states. Wheat is available but no oats. All the pictures depict oats.
I love the milk cartons. I wish they did that here.
Such a cute post Silvia!
I love the fact that everyone in Norway really gets involved. That’s also the reason that I prefer to celebrate Christmas in Germany (where I live) in comparison to Christmas in the UK (where I’m from), ‘cos Christmas in Northern Europe is just so much more wintry, colder, merrier and authentic! 😀
I’m allergic to marzipan so can’t usually have all the Christmas goodies on offer, but that certainly hasn’t stopped me from having wonderful Christmasses!
I totally agree – and next to Norway, Germany is my favorite place during Christmas. So magical!