Join us in celebrating Christmas the Scandinavian way.
Most Scandinavians really, really like Christmas. Even if they say they don’t, they probably hum jingle bells in secret and wraps presents when nobody’s looking. We’re really good at Christmas and we find joy in even the darkest days of the year.
Jule-Hygge
Call it what you want – we have many names for it: Hygge, Koselig, Mysigt. That state of mind where you relax with people you care about and time doesn’t exist. Christmas is the high season for hygge. No, you can’t buy it: You have to create it and BE in it. Hygge just means: To appreciate the moment your’re in – while you’re in it.
We enjoy this kind of snow.
Fluffy, beautiful, delicious, cotton wool snow.
Cold?
We’re not cold, because we know how to dress for the cold. It’s warm inside and cold outside. We have layers. We have heating, log fires, stillongs and kärlek.
Advent Calendars
Little chocolates every day? Pah! Do it like us and give a present for each day in December. Now THAT’S an advent calendar. For both kids and adults. Yes, it’s a thing: One present every single day (this is a huge thing especially in Denmark).
Sundays in Advent
The last four Sundays before Christmas, Scandinavians meet up for glögg (mulled wine) parties, eat ginger biscuits and get red ears and cheeks from the mulled wine. It’s a real thing and it’s important. Christmas begins the first Sunday in advent. One candle is lit on the Advent Wreath every Sunday and a lot of cakes and glögg is consumed by all. Peak together-time.
Candles in the windows. ALL the windows.
Let’s face it: It’s dark. Very dark. Can’t see a darn thing anywhere. Most people have big stars or 7-candle bridges in the windows. Walk around any Nordic town during the dark months and you’ll see all the windows lit up.
We will have Christmas Beers and they are delicious.
The Danish Tuborg Julebryg is only available for 10 weeks out of the year and it is the 4th best selling beer in Denmark. Also, you get to wear blue hats and stuff. Usually served at all the Christmas lunches and parties.
Feast of St Lucia
13th December, every year – this happens all over the Nordic countries. In the dark, hundreds of candles and carols, to sing in the light. Drink more mulled wine. If you ever get invited to a Nordic Lucia event, do go along. It’s wonderful and bound to envoke top Christmas feelings in even the biggest Grinch.
Real tree
Few people have fake trees in the Nordics. We love our trees, our real trees – and we have lots of them. Norway even donates one to London every year – always displayed at Trafalgar Square.
In Denmark, they even dance around the tree and sing songs. Oh, and yes, they light real candles on the trees. REAL candles (carefully and only for a short time and with a bucket of water near by).
No tinsel
Does it require batteries, light up and sing a merry tune? We don’t want it. Does it sparkle in seven different colours? No thanks. Give us simple decorations. No tinsel. Add Christmas elves.
We get to celebrate the big day a day early
Our Christmas happens on Christmas eve 24th December (NOT on the 25th) – dinner, drink, tree, sing-song, all the presents.
Under no circumstances do we want to go to the pub on the 24th, or to a party, or anywhere not involving people we really, really like. No.
And here is a little hint: If your Danish girlfriend is spending Christmas with you for the first time and says she doesn’t mind going to the pub on Christmas Eve, best make a secret backup plan because nearer the time, she will mind. The writer of this post obviously does not speak from personal experience.
Donald Duck (Kalle Anka)
At 3 pm, every year, especially in Sweden: Watch the Donald Duck Christmas Show on telly, the version from 1972. Cry when Jiminy Cricket sings ‘When you wish upon a star’ and feel blessed. Repeat every single year.
Turkey? No thanks.
Fed up with Turkey? Join us: in Scandinavia, Christmas dinners range from a whole ham to roast pork, roast duck, sugar-fried potatoes, smoked racks of lamb and, eh, cod steeped in lye (yes, some do).
The Big Christmas Smörgåsbord
For Swedes, this happens on Christmas Eve… For Danes and the rest, it’s all the other days after the 24th: Bring out the herring, the aquavit, the leftovers, the everything-you-can-think-of-table. Add beer. Aquavit. Repeat several times.
[who the hell invited the pineapple?]
Red noses, red cheeks, sneaky kisses under the mistletoe.
It’s also our thing. No, not just a ‘mulled wine’. We don’t add drabs of leftover stuff to our glögg, nor do we add half a litre of orange juice. No. We carefully blend spices, sugar and red wine… heat it up and add secret yuletide cheer to every pot. Why is Glögg so much better than mulled wine? Cardamom, dried Seville orange peel, cinnamon, cloves and ginger are the scents of a truly Scandinavian Christmas. It makes us feel all warm and we’re happy inside.
Things flavoured with saffron
Swedes and Norwegians eat Saffron buns. Actually, the Swedes will flavour almost anything with saffron (drinks, biscuits, Semlor, cakes… ). The Danes eat little pancake balls called Æbleskiver. Over 100 million of those are eaten every year in Denmark (they really, really like them). Æbleskiver means apple slices, although, oddly, rarely contain any apple.
Julmust
Like a weirdly flat coke mixed with root beer. It’s available all through Christmas and outsells CocoCola by a massive mile. Do not attempt to separate a Swede from his Julmust drink.
Julebrus
Like a raspberry fizzy soft drink (although others are more of a fruity flavour, such as the Hamar version). It’s available all through Christmas and outsells CocoCola by a mile. Do not attempt to separate a Norwegian from his Julebrus drink.
Also: don’t give Julmust to a Norwegian – and don’t give Julebrus to a Swede. The Danes only want the Christmas beer.
Father Christmas
We can’t agree on where he lives. The Danes are sure he lives in Greenland, the rest knows it is at the North Pole. Or in Finland. Or he doesn’t exist at all because we believe in the Christmas gnomes, not Santa (and then he is called Tomten or Nissen, not Santa). It gets confusing. Anyway, he wears a red hat. He often visits the house in the afternoon on Christmas Eve – and he looks a lot like Uncle Björn. Oddly so.
90th Birthday – every year
We watch this clip every single New Year. Every single year – on the telly, over and over. Since the beginning of time, we have done this and we will continue until the end of time. Same procedure as last year, James, same procedure as last year.
from all of us at www.Scandikitchen.co.uk:
God Jul x
By Brontë Aurell.
