Nik's getting married

[Nikolai]

We married in a church belonging to the Norwegian Chrurch(previously state church, not somewhere in between). Myself, I find them too liberal and have quit going to them, prefering the more conservative prayer house organizations, which I've belonged to since 2001. But for marriage, the old churches beat the prayer houses big time. And we got a priest I trust. Since Astrid is still a member, we got it for free.

[Nikolai]

Monday we travel to my mother in law to celebrate Christmas with her. First time I'll not be with my family. It's going to be a new experience. But I look forward to it.

[Unorthodox]

 Ah yes.  Hope you like the in-laws. 

Personally, got along with them better than my own family.  Which, admittedly, is not saying much.  But, no more in-laws.    Which conversely means more of my family. 

My older brother married into a family that don't believe in Santa.

Or More appropriately, believes Santa is Satan.  This caused endless hilarity over the Holidays for years as that vituperator my brother married is not the kind to keep her mouth shut.  Briefly got into "dinosaurs never existed" over Thanksgiving, but thought better of trying to reason with her and just let it slide (more because her daughter was getting embarrassed, and I like my niece.) 

[Nikolai]

Oh, indeed I do! Her mother, which we are spending Christmas with, is a wonderful woman. Some of her family is not easy to deal with - not for her family or us. But they are in the minority and not the closest of the family.

Sorry to hear about your sister in law. It should be possible to treat others decently, especially if you are a Christian, as I suppose they are with that reasoning. I'm sceptical towards darwinism myself, but that just sounds silly. And santa? The devil? Sheeez...

[Unorthodox]

Yep, Santa is the devil.  Her dad would lecture on it at the university every year.  (he's a sociologist)

Not sure where the dinos don't exist comes from to be honest.  Have to assume she was raised with that notion too.  While she's very LDS (and thus Christian) in some respects, she's the type that loves to say something truly offensive and follow it up with a "oh, just kidding".  For whatever reason, though, she's afraid of hEt, so there's usually no issues when hEt's not working.  My younger brother's wife is just too quiet to stand up to the Vituperator.  Very quiet and proper...in public at least.


Anyway, what does a Norwegian Christmas consist of?  Guessing Krampus is a little SW of there, so any interesting local traditions?  Love some pics if you get time. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Ditto.

[Unorthodox]

And if you say lutefisk, I might just have to rush off to vomit. 

Former co-worker nuked some in the microwave once...I've never smelled anything worse. 

[Nikolai]

Yep, Santa is the devil.  Her dad would lecture on it at the university every year.  (he's a sociologist)

Not sure where the dinos don't exist comes from to be honest.  Have to assume she was raised with that notion too.  While she's very LDS (and thus Christian) in some respects, she's the type that loves to say something truly offensive and follow it up with a "oh, just kidding".  For whatever reason, though, she's afraid of hEt, so there's usually no issues when hEt's not working.  My younger brother's wife is just too quiet to stand up to the Vituperator.  Very quiet and proper...in public at least.


Anyway, what does a Norwegian Christmas consist of?  Guessing Krampus is a little SW of there, so any interesting local traditions?  Love some pics if you get time. 

I see. Sounds tiresome. Better get time off for the missus then.

Norwegian Christmas...it's different than an American Christmas. But America has influenced us a lot the last few years. Traditions change, but this is how many of us do it:

Dec 23rd, Little Christmas Eve, we decorate the Christmas tree. The kids watch cartoons(Disney) and an old 70s Czech Cinderella movie, among other things. On national TV in the evening, the grown ups often watch a Christmas special with various stuff going on. What EVERYONE watch from this program is an old black and white humor sketch called Dinner for One.

Dec 24th, many go to church somewhere between 11 AM and 3 PM, for a very watered down service everyone can stomach. Dinner is served around 5 PM, most eat pork or lamb ribs. After dinner, coffee is served and then we go around the Christmas tree, singing chorals. Then we open the gifts. This can take hours. Kids get a lot of gifts these days! At the end of the day, many eat porrige, not sure what it's called in English, but it's a porrige based on sour cream and rice.

Dec 25th, we sleep long and take the day off with family if we can. Nothing much happens. Religious people often go to church. More food is consumed. In my family we eat lamb ribs on 24th and pork ribs on 25th.

Next few days are what we call "romjul", which I guess means "middle Christmas". Family visits ensues.

Traditionally, Christmas is over either 13th or 20th day of Christmas, ie 6th or 13th January. Then the tree goes out and so does the Christmas decorations. This has changed the last few years though, many now take it down around new year.

[Nikolai]

And if you say lutefisk, I might just have to rush off to vomit. 

Former co-worker nuked some in the microwave once...I've never smelled anything worse. 

Lutefisk is for "romjulen". It's delicious, but you need bacon.

Rakfisk is even better, but smells like a garbage dump!

[Unorthodox]

Yep, Santa is the devil.  Her dad would lecture on it at the university every year.  (he's a sociologist)

Not sure where the dinos don't exist comes from to be honest.  Have to assume she was raised with that notion too.  While she's very LDS (and thus Christian) in some respects, she's the type that loves to say something truly offensive and follow it up with a "oh, just kidding".  For whatever reason, though, she's afraid of hEt, so there's usually no issues when hEt's not working.  My younger brother's wife is just too quiet to stand up to the Vituperator.  Very quiet and proper...in public at least.


Anyway, what does a Norwegian Christmas consist of?  Guessing Krampus is a little SW of there, so any interesting local traditions?  Love some pics if you get time. 

I see. Sounds tiresome. Better get time off for the missus then.

Norwegian Christmas...it's different than an American Christmas. But America has influenced us a lot the last few years. Traditions change, but this is how many of us do it:

Dec 23rd, Little Christmas Eve, we decorate the Christmas tree. The kids watch cartoons(Disney) and an old 70s Czech Cinderella movie, among other things. On national TV in the evening, the grown ups often watch a Christmas special with various stuff going on. What EVERYONE watch from this program is an old black and white humor sketch called Dinner for One.

Interesting.  Any particular reason why the 23rd?  Is it a national holiday as well?  Love to see pics of your tree, much as I hate trees, I enjoy the differing styles. 

We used to decorate our tree on Christmas Eve, this tradition coming from my grandma's side of the family, and we're not sure where they originate from as all we know is they took a new name on hitting the shores of the US.  Theories are mostly Germanic origin. 

Dec 24th, many go to church somewhere between 11 AM and 3 PM, for a very watered down service everyone can stomach. Dinner is served around 5 PM, most eat pork or lamb ribs. After dinner, coffee is served and then we go around the Christmas tree, singing chorals. Then we open the gifts. This can take hours. Kids get a lot of gifts these days! At the end of the day, many eat porrige, not sure what it's called in English, but it's a porrige based on sour cream and rice.

Also interesting to me.  hEt's family (very German descent) always did Christmas Eve as a dinner.  Ham, always.  And Santa would bring the kids ONE gift.  In America the main gifts are a morning of the 25th thing. 

AFAIK, the rice porridge doesn't have a translation.  I've had it through the aforementioned coworker, can't remember the name. 

I've started my own damn tradition of a Christmas Eve Breakfast.  It was a tradition for the mechanics to go to breakfast before a very busy Christmas eve at the car lot I used to work at, and I liked it enough to attempt to adopt it for my brothers and I to have a nice quiet get together.  Spent 3 years alone before anyone showed.  It's since morphed into a full on breakfast at my house for my family.  We missed last year because of work, but it's back on.  Breakfast is perfect for my family as it's enough time to get together and acquaint, but limited enough certain members don't have time to poison the atmosphere. 

Dec 25th, we sleep long and take the day off with family if we can. Nothing much happens. Religious people often go to church. More food is consumed. In my family we eat lamb ribs on 24th and pork ribs on 25th.

Wish I could sleep in...

Presents and family are Dec 25th.  My parents cook a rib roast every year.  hEt's family did a breakfast/brunch meal, which I'm taking over. 

Next few days are what we call "romjul", which I guess means "middle Christmas". Family visits ensues.

So, are these days traditionally off of work?   State Holidays. 

Here, while many businesses in manufacturing shut down (perform maintenance), and some government jobs, it's not official holiday, or necessarily widespread. 

Traditionally, Christmas is over either 13th or 20th day of Christmas, ie 6th or 13th January. Then the tree goes out and so does the Christmas decorations. This has changed the last few years though, many now take it down around new year.

Any significance behind these dates? 

[Nikolai]

Interesting.  Any particular reason why the 23rd?  Is it a national holiday as well?  Love to see pics of your tree, much as I hate trees, I enjoy the differing styles. 

We used to decorate our tree on Christmas Eve, this tradition coming from my grandma's side of the family, and we're not sure where they originate from as all we know is they took a new name on hitting the shores of the US.  Theories are mostly Germanic origin. 

No, it's not a national holiday. Just the day before the day, as it's called. Time to settle down etc.

Our trees are not as gloriously decorated as the American tradition, here's ours from 2001, an old pic I had lying around:

Also interesting to me.  hEt's family (very German descent) always did Christmas Eve as a dinner.  Ham, always.  And Santa would bring the kids ONE gift.  In America the main gifts are a morning of the 25th thing. 

AFAIK, the rice porridge doesn't have a translation.  I've had it through the aforementioned coworker, can't remember the name. 

I've started my own damn tradition of a Christmas Eve Breakfast.  It was a tradition for the mechanics to go to breakfast before a very busy Christmas eve at the car lot I used to work at, and I liked it enough to attempt to adopt it for my brothers and I to have a nice quiet get together.  Spent 3 years alone before anyone showed.  It's since morphed into a full on breakfast at my house for my family.  We missed last year because of work, but it's back on.  Breakfast is perfect for my family as it's enough time to get together and acquaint, but limited enough certain members don't have time to poison the atmosphere. 

ONE gift? Heavens.:p

So you know the porrige. Good tasting, right?

Breakfast with the family sounds like a lovely tradition!

So, are these days traditionally off of work?   State Holidays. 

Here, while many businesses in manufacturing shut down (perform maintenance), and some government jobs, it's not official holiday, or necessarily widespread. 

No, only 25h and 26th is in romjulen. But many take those days off.

Any significance behind these dates?

January 6th is the day of the holy three kings who met Jesus. At that date all Christmas beer should be finished drinked and it was counted as the end of the official 12 Christmas days of old. Also something about those 12(?) missing days of the calendar change with the Gregorian calendar.

13th is an old tradition from the 1200s or earlier, where the last remnant of Christmas HAD to be gone. According to Wikipedia, people used a broom in all rooms to symbolically get Christmas out. Also, the last of the Christmas food HAD to be eaten at this day the latest.

[Unorthodox]

No, it's not a national holiday. Just the day before the day, as it's called. Time to settle down etc.

Our trees are not as gloriously decorated as the American tradition, here's ours from 2001, an old pic I had lying around:

Not all that different from ours. 


I'm not one who likes the gaudy trees that seem to be popular.  I would prefer a real tree to the fake as well, but hEt don't like that idea. 

ONE gift? Heavens.:p

Yes, ONE on Christmas Eve, usually just after someone read a christmas story.  Sometimes the story was store bought, sometimes from the bible.  Just a small gift for the kids to play with immediately.  They get the majority on Christmas morning. 



Probably an acquired taste thing.  Compounded by my being lactose intolerant. 

[Buster's Uncle]

So Nik - how's it worked out so far?

-Note that all the pictures you posted in here, save two, have gone away.

[Nikolai]

It's as amazing as ever, possibly even better.

[Buster's Uncle]