Christmas traditions.

The dark, cold , beautiful season of winter and Christmas is upon us, and I’m sick. I’ve been coughing and sniffling since Wednesday morning, and my head feels like it’s stuffed with cotton…cotton with little men hammering on the inside of my skull that is. *sigh* Luckily I’m feeling a little better now. I’ve finished my Christmas shopping and soon I’ll be sitting in my  brother and sister’s apartment, ready for two whole weeks with my family. I haven’t seen them since..this summer I think, so I’m really looking forwards to it.

While I’m not religious at all, I celebrate and love Christmas. For me it’s about spending time with your family,  creating a bit of light and warmth in the winter darkness. My family has some weird, but really cozy Christmas traditions that we’ve kept ever since I was a kid.

• My mother still gets me an advent-calendar. I’m 26, and still get an advent-calendar, as do my 21 year old little brother and sister. I love my mom.
• My brother, sister and I always get to open a gift early in the morning on Christmas Eve. Norwegians usually open their gifts after dinner on the 24th. I guess our parents decided the best way to keep us calm and entertained until that time was to let us open a gift when we woke up. It’s stuck since then.
• “Santa” leaves all of us stockings on our bedroom door the morning of christmas eve. It’s filled with candy-goodness and fruits. This is a tradition in here in Norway and even though my siblings and I are grown up, our mom..I mean “santa”, still leaves us a knitted sock full of deliciousness.
• Ever since we were little, my sister and I would bring our duvets downstairs to the living-room, and curl up on the couch, eating the candy from our stocking while watching silly old Christmas movies and specials. I strongly plan on doing this again this year. I have even bough a brand new pair of pajamas for the occasion.
• In Norway there’s always been a bit of “friendly rivalry” between the traditional christmas meals. Some eat lutefisk, others pinnekjøtt, while others again, like my family, eat Christmas ribs (pork ribs prepared to perfection in my opinion).

What are your Christmas traditions?

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