Little Christmas Eve is when things begin in this country (the day before Christmas Eve). In the evening, we begin after supper by making gingerbread cookies. Feeling the need to make this as authentic as possible for my continuing Norwegian childhood (I am growing in this culture, getting older but not yet grown, that takes time!), I make sure to eat enough of the dough so that I am plagued by a small stomach ache. I “fixed” the problem by making and drinking some strong black coffee, to help tone down the sweetness. After cutting out what felt like a million cookies, we became bored with the shapes we had available to us (just how many stars and hearts do you think I can make until I want something new?). We decided to be creative, and I must say, I warned them. People do not believe me when I say I am not creative because I edit videos, plan parties or practical jokes and cross stitch. However, when people say someone is creative they usually mean in one area (or at least include that area) and that is drawing or molding and shaping. These are the areas that I am most definitely NOT gifted in, although I do think my stick people drawings have improved over the years.
I began by taking the pig form (non-norwegians, I know you will wonder what a pig has to do with Christmas... and I could go back into the long and detailed story about the almond in the porridge and the marzipan pig, but even then I can never seem to come to a real answer from the weegies as to why a pig. All I know is - it is here, and it is part of the national tradition, so don’t question or mess with it!! ;-) Anyway, I began with the pig form and tried to cut out a sheep with a knife. When I was done the “sheep”, Magni’s brother commented that it looked more like a camel because of the to lumps on the top... so I went with the problem (kinda like how I do my hair every day...) and tried to remake it into a camel. The camel was acceptable in the end, although very tiny by the time I was done with it.
After the cookies came the decorating of the tree. I was asked to help and although I wanted to run for my life, I stayed and gave my opinion and even helped hang garland and ornaments on it in the end. Why did I want to run, you ask? Well, people tend to have a lot of traditions around christmas (especially in this country, it’s so cute and last so many days), and people tend to have a way of doing things. It’s hard to give your opinion when you don’t know how things are normally done. I think I have always been frustrated by Christmas trees... something about the spacial decoration... I never seem to be satisfied that it is both aesthetically pleasing and relatively balanced. One day, I want the perfect tree... maybe in heaven.
We ended the evening by watching a british show on TV called something like the Duchess and the butler or servant. It’s about this duchess that has a party with imaginary people and the servant must go around and do the toast for all of them, and drink their liquor. So, after each course he gets more and more drunk and has to continue drinking. It was quite funny, in the way only the British can be.
Christmas Eve began with me chatting with Magni’s wonderful parents in the kitchen over my cup of coffee. They are very pleased that I can speak norsk, but I still find her Father difficult to understand because of the combination of the dialect and the fact that he mumbles and speaks unclearly as older men tend to do. Speaking of dialect, I am learning quite a few new words that Beate will most likely have to “fix” when I get back to sørlandet.
The morning program then began at 1100 with “Three nuts for Cinderella” on TV (the nuts grant wishes). It seems to me that everyone here, perhaps most especially but not limited to females, watches this program. Why they play it is another question that can only be answered with: the fact is that they have done it every year since everyone in my generation was a kid, so why on earth should they change it now? It’s a tradition, an odd one, but as traditions do it holds many memories and associated feelings for those addicted to it’s availability. The funny thing about this tradition is that it is an old Czech movie, dubbed into Norwegian. For some reason, it is the only movie ever dubbed this way, and let me explain to you what they did. You can still hear the Czech voices in the background, they are just at a quieter volume, while the same man’s voice translates the whole movie. Now, to give him credit, whoever this man was, he was very talented at making the different “voices” much like you or I might do when reading a children’s story. It is just such an odd experience (please excuse me, weegies, I am not trying to step on any toes here! ) to watch a movie that HAS to be seen at Christmas, has nothing to do with Christmas and is kind of, actually, weird in the way it was made. But, such is the way in all the world with traditions.
I found the lovely compromise and am perhaps beginning my own tradition by cross-stitching a christmas pattern while we watched it. It was actually really interesting, because the pattern is of two elves (nisse) eating from a bowl of porridge. After the film was done I was stitching the porridge and at the exact moment I did the last stitch for that area, our porridge was ready! Could this be prophetic stitching? Ok, I know I have had this job too long - sorry for those of you who aren’t living a ministry/abnormal life :-)
We eat rice porridge with one almond in it, yes only one as I learned the hard way two years ago! If you are so lucky to get the almond, you win a prize, usually a marzipan pig. This year, in this home, it was a chocolate bar. I did not win, but rather Jon Egil. I was happy for him, if there is one thing I do not need at Norwegian Christmas it is more sweets or more to eat!!
After porridge I was lucky enough to catch my parents, one brother and sister-in-law on skype in South Korea. It was nice to see them all together and chat for a few minutes.
Then it was out for a walk in Fairy-tale land as we like to call this place. It is beautiful to walk out the door and be in the woods/mountains in just minutes.
When we came back from our brisk walk on slippery hardened snow, it was time for Coffee and dessert. This was a momentous occasion because Magni took her first sip ever of black coffee. The rest of her family drinks coffee, and as there was a bit of pressure from the family, and none at all from me I might point out, she suddenly made the choice completely of her own volition, and out was the coffee cup.
The other thing that happened that was completely new (although we are talking just for me here) was to experience Church on the radio. Since we are in such a sparsely populated area, they do not have their own Priest (from the Norwegian State Church) so a church from a neighbouring parish makes a circuit and holds service here not more than once a month. So, we heard church on the radio while we drank coffee. After the service, at 5:00 pm, the bells rang all over the country to bring in the holiday. We had to participate again via the radio. Then we went off, and dressed up - the guys in suits - for our Christmas dinner. Dinner was delicious and I knew here what to expect minus a few new things. We had lamb ribs, homemade dinner sausage of deer and pork and a type of mashed turnip and boiled potatoes. This was the first year that the lamb ribs were not definitely their own raised lamb. Dinner was naturally a filling experience, and thankfully we took a break after before we began with dessert.
But the the real trauma began - we had to walk around the Christmas tree holding hands and singing. It was not the singing in Nynorsk (the other written language here that I am not very good at) or the trying to read the words while we walked that was the worst, or the going round and round for what seemed like forever - but the combination of all. I learned or perhaps created a new word - juletresyk (christmas tree sick). I got motion sickness from looking down reading, sometimes backwards while marching around the tree and trying to sing these songs in Nynorsk.
They made up for this afterwards, however, by opening gifts - which was a peaceful and calm experience where I could just sit in a chair and not move!
After, we had dessert (not that anyone was even close to be hungry - but such is tradition and the plague of the holidays!!)
I ended the day by calling most of the rest of my family and using up every last penny of call time I still had on my skype account.
Bed was a blessing after such a long day!
Magni planned a little surprise for me, and is one of those people that listen to me, and really make me wonder just how much I say (my small group girls all managed to figure out where I was going on outreach this year without me actually ever saying it or giving what I thought was an obvious clue!) Anyway, when I got up in the morning, there was a stocking filled and waiting for me, just like when I was a child in Canada. She managed to fill it with all sorts of random useful things (just like mom would, but thankfully no pencils and rulers!) and even found an old comic book to put in there for me (I even must have mentioned that detail). There one thing that I thought I would have to be without this year, since I did not get my mom’s package before I left (but have no fear, wipe your tears, I think I will get it before Turkey!) was my chocolate J. This comes from a variation on a dutch tradition - where we every year got the first letter of our name in our stocking. We had no chocolate J, but Magni sneakingly made a Gingerbread J (I think she said something about Jesus when she was making it, and I had no idea!) and she put that into my stocking.
I then had the wonderful blessing of finding that no one had made coffee yet, so I got into the kitchen and made some good coffee for myself for Christmas morning.
When the rest of the house got up we had brunch, and then Magni and I began to play with the Turkey. They decided to have a turkey dinner in my honour on Christmas Day, and Magni did a great job! I was pretty tired from the day before, so after getting the turkey in, I went for what has become a tradition for me here of my afternoon nap. Now, it sounds lovely, but in reality I have not napped well because I have been sick since the 7th of December. My naps are a bit tiresome and full of crazy dreams, and my body is just not producing energy of any kind. I am learning to have compassion for those who are elderly and no longer able to do what they want to do. I have gotten antibiotics, and I am now confident that my youth will return within a couple of days.
Even youths become weak and tired... but those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint. (Isa 40:30-31)
1 comment:
Wow.
That was great fun!!!!
Glad you had a good Christmas.
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