We had gone with some ward friends, the Amundsens, to cut our own tree from a tree farm a few minutes away. We thought it was a rather pretty tree. :)
Christmas morning brought the usual fun. Santa knew where to find us in Norway! The boys got an arcade game player that connects to the computer and allows them to play all kinds of old games in "arcade" style--like Pac Man! Annie got some baby dolls. Board games. Packages from family in the US. It was great!
Carl invited a friend from work for Christmas dinner. Named Choy Guan (sp?), single and new to Norway, so we thought he could join our celebrations. It was fun to have him over. Also fun were some skype calls with extended family, and a game of lego Creationary!
(In the picture that shows Choy Guan, you can see part of a lit-up star in the window. Norwegians put Christmas stars in their windows--not so many strings of outside lights.)
When I think of Christmas programs on TV, I think of the Grinch, Polar Express, It's a Wonderful Life, The Christmas Story...
Well, these are some of the traditional favorites in Norway (that you see on TV every year):
"Tre Nøtter til Askepott," or "Three Nuts for Cinderella." It's a Czech movie, decades old, that for some reason has become a Christmastime favorite here. :) We found it on TV and had fun watching it in the morning on Christmas Eve.
Sam went with his barnehage group, weeks before Christmas, to watch a puppet production of "Snekker Andersen og Julenissen (Carpenter Andersen and Santa Claus)." They had loaned us the picture book story beforehand so that we could read it together and familiarize Sam with the story. So, we were excited when we recognized the story being read on TV Christmas Eve! It's about a man all dressed up to play Santa for his kids, meets the real Santa and decides to trade, so he goes to Santa's house and makes gifts for Santa's family members out of wood...
We delivered cookies to a few of our close neighbors in the afternoon. They were just beginning their celebrations. Most Norwegians dress up for a special dinner, and "Julenissen" comes with the gifts. They open them on Christmas Eve.
We had our own little special dinner, read the Christmas story from the scriptures by candlelight, and the kids opened one gift before bed! :)
The Advent is actually a big deal in Norway. They sell four candles for the Sundays leading up to Christmas. It's been fun for me to think of the European origins of our family tradition (growing up) of Advent reading by candlelight. My grandparents were from Germany.
Oh, the roses were a Christmas gift from Carl. They looked beautiful on our table throughout the holidays!
Carl sang "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" at our stake Christmas concert, along with his saxophone. It was the highlight of the concert (in my humble opinion :))! We've received so many compliments...I'm proud of my talented man. The concert as a whole was lovely, but I spent half of it chasing kids in the hall. Sheesh.
Each of our boys was involved in a Christmastime program of their own!
Sam's barnehage celebrated Saint Lucia day. It's celebrated in Scandinavia on December 13th. Usually, children dress in white clothes and garlands and have a candle procession, singing the "Santa Lucia" song. The procession is led by a girl with a crown of candles on her head. It's a neat thing to watch. (I was shopping at IKEA later in the day, the lights went out, and along came a Santa Lucia procession, lit with candles, right through the store!)
"På Låven Sitter Nissen" is a popular Christmas song in Norway--kind of like our "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." It's about Santa sitting in the barn, eating Christmas porridge. The rats want him to share with them, but he shouts and sends them away, telling them he'll get the cat! Funny :) Joseph's class sang it in their Christmas program at school. Joseph was one of the rats...can you find him?
James sang a small solo in "We Are the World," part of his class Christmas program. He was a little shy, but did a good job. :) They sang in English. I was surprised, in coming to Norway, that most of the songs and carols on the radio are in English.
Norwegians, at Christmastime, love to eat pepperkaker (gingerbread cookies) with gløgg (kind of like cider). You see them at every holiday gathering! This is us making pepperkaker with our friends, the Silvas.
We were invited to sledding and dinner with the Rennesunds! Annie got to meet a friendly horse, belonging to a neighbor of theirs.
We are happy for Joseph. There was a special spirit at his baptism, and we know that Heavenly Father was pleased that he chose to follow Jesus, and be baptized and confirmed!
I wish I had more pictures to share. These are all we have, and not very good quality. Our camera was broken and we had to use the iPhone.
