Merry Christmas, Dear Reader! I am in a good mood, checking my mail while most of the celebrants at my dad's house watch the annual Disney special, just having dropped my kids off for dinner at my mom's place where my son's mom will join them. This, you understand, can only be Scandinavia, where:
- Christmas Eve is a big thing and Christmas Day nothing,
- People are willing to watch the same Donald Duck show every year,
- Everybody's a divorcee.
I hope you also have a good stressless Christmas in enjoyable company!
- Log in to post comments
More like this
My hometown sits in the Southeastern Greene School district of Greene County, itself the very southwest corner of Pennsylvania. And therein, I believe, is born my perennial confusion of east and west. When I lived in Kansas, my hometown nevertheless often seemed to the west of me - because Greene…
Tomorrow, Kate and I will be heading off to Scenic Whitney Point to spend a few days with my family. Part of this will be the traditional Christmas Eve dinner with my father's side of the family (described in more detail below the fold). It occurred to me a little while ago that this is the one…
I'm back after the traditional family holiday and a less traditional trip to Charleston, SC for the Renaissance Weekend meeting. Which means things will start to return to what passes for normal around here, and that means it's time to get caught up on photo-a-day pictures...
What with one thing…
It's not just Sunday, but it's Christmas Eve. Time for my annual In Praise of Christmas Sermonette. Because, yes, I am a big fan of Christmas. As a proud member of the godless, I am not a bit embarrassed or chagrined. As far as I'm concerned, it's a lovely secular holiday. I'll explain why, but I…
i've been living here in the states so long now, i've actually come to miss that Donald Duck show.
and the drunken-butler aged-countess skit that airs every new year's eve, too. next year in Scandinavia...
Happy Monkey!
Sitting here with Mr. Magoo, whom I've watched every year since childhood so's I can sing "LA-LA-la-la-la-la-la-LA" along with the 3rd ghost's funereal cousins (that nasty evil wicked ugly Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come), who was originally inspired by Charles Dickens even longer ago, I figure Donald Duck's got nothing on me. My old Norwegian language teacher wants to know if you're having Lutefisk for dinner and adds a hearty "Yukh!" from Yiddish class (he considers it akin to a mummy, evidently and prefers sandwiches of kippers and marmalade, which I invented by way of a joke once).
Oh yes, Tiny Tim says, "God bless us, every one!" and then asks for more razzleberry dressing. Whatever that is. Ten thousandth watching and I still don't know!
Lutefisk safely stashed in the fridge! A Chinawoman dear to my heart likes the stuff. I like the potatoes and peas and white sauce.
Hi Martin,
Tonight at 23:00 hr. we're going to the Holy Night Mass, tomorrow our children and grandchildren will join us at the Christmas Dinner. We 're very busy now with all the preparations. I'am glad that you are coming to Maastricht september next year, a good place to be, you will see. Have a nice Christmas and a happy 2009!
Titus
Merry christmas!
Merry Midsummer, Martin, and everyone else.
My 6yo daughter is standing beside me, looking at the picture. She cannot imagine snow at christmas.
It's about 20 degrees celsius here (mid morning), and most of the week we've had temperatures reaching the low to mid 20's, although it's expected to get into the thirties on the weekend. No bushfires so far.
God Jul!
At my parents' in Dalecarlia.
No divorcees in sight.
May your days still be merry and bright!
We're pretty sure, from our 300th watching of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, that razzleberry dressing is like cranberry sauce, but made from raspberries. Then again, we're sure that krumholz is that cinnamon sugar butter stuff they put on top of coffee cakes.
Christmas is a magnificent amalgamation. I love the way Christmas customs vary from place to place, even as they overlap and displace each other. Does Black Peter still have any traction, or has Santa Claus replaced him?
Merry Christmas! And Happy Monkey from those of us at Pharyngula!
Merry Belated Christmas. Hope you managed to get enough boxes out of the way to make room for presents.
Completely correct summing up of Swedish holiday traditions. You should have seen the extended family I celebrated with. Though us in the younger generation are setting a bad example of all actually still being together with the repspective other parent of our children. We just don't have any respect for traditions I guess...
To my friends, the most remarkable thing about our second-generation Scandy Christmas is the presence of fish, in various celebratory forms. Nothing says Christmas like pickled herring, smoked roe & boiled cod in butter. Our Ikea has a small food section, and you can always tell the Scandies cuz they're the ones in the checkout lines at Ikea with mostly groceries. God Jul!