Christmas in Sweden

Every family has their own holiday traditions. One can not say that traditions are truly one nation’s, because individuals of that nation or of another nation will either share those nationalistic traditions or ignore them. With that being said, I am going to exactly that- talk about the traditional Swedish Christmas.

The first major difference of a Swedish Christmas compared to an American Christmas is that the main day of action is on Christmas Eve, the 24th, compared to Christmas Day in the states, the 25th. The events of the holiday actually start on the 23rd, or as I like to call it- Christmas Eve Eve.

M’s family spends the day doing a serious cleaning. Not just a little cleaning, but major cleaning. I am talking about moving all the furniture and cleaning. For some reason, not sure what that would be, but we missed that. Actually we miss that most years. It was only my first Christmas in Sweden that we “managed” to get there in time to “participate” in the cleaning. Once the cleaning is completed, the more fun Christmas traditions begin. The tradition of making the gingerbread house is the first. Now, most families only make a small house, but not M’s family. They go all out. Some of the better ones in the years past have been the Eiffel Tower, Tower Bridge and a working lighthouse (bad idea having a burning candle in the lighthouse). Then it is the decorating the Christmas tree. All the decorations are more of the traditional ones. You will not see any Hallmark decorations on a Swedish tree. Though the highlight of the 23rd is the ham testing. What is ham testing, it is exactly what the name indicates- testing of the Christmas ham. M’s parents actually make two hams every year now. We have ham with a special hard bread and Christmas mustard (one thing about Sweden, it has a “special” version of nearly everything for Christmas- cheese, beer, soda, tea). The real highlight of the event though is the snaps and lots of it. With ever shot of snaps, everyone sings a new Christmas snaps song. This has to be my favorite part of a Swedish Christmas!

After the late night, the entire family wakes up Christmas Eve. The kids placed a sock at the foot of their beds so that the Christmas elves could leave a little treat for them. The entire family brings their socks into the living room where the Christmas Eve morning breakfast is waiting. The old people have coffee when the kids have hot chocolate with their ham and cheese thin bread roll-ups. The thin bread is special and comes from Leksand, not the case for all families. Then it is time to test the Christmas cookies. A rough estimate of the different types of cookies is about 20. In theory you have to taste each one. I usually get about 3 or 4 of them down before my cookie limit is hit.

Lunch, my least favorite part of the Christmas holidays, is serve around 1pm. It is two dishes. The first is Lutfisk. If you have not tried it, it is not worth it- I promise! It is kind of like textured jello. I always claim for the three days after Christmas that it is the lutfisk which actually gives me a sour stomach. M’s father loves it, though it is really foul. The second part is rice porridge with cinnamon and sugar. Not my favorite, but better then lutfisk, that is for sure.

At 3:00pm every Christmas every Swedish family sits down to watch the Disney Christmas special- or known in Sweden as Donald Duck. I really do not understand why Donald Duck is the name, when he is barely in the movie. Anyway, in reality most people turn the TV on, but they sleep through the entire thing. The programs on TV are the same every year. In fact they are on the exact same time every year.

The dinner is a smorgasbord. It is eaten in two phases. The first phase is the seafood section. It has several different flavors of herring- sour, curry, dill; and several different types of salmon- smoked and fermented. Once that part is complete, which is not too bad thankfully, everyone moves on to the meat section. Here is where you get to have the Christmas ham, Swedish meatballs and sausages. Usually the smorgasbord will also have a variety of small things, like moose sausage, pâté and jonssons.

After dinner, and this part varies from family to family, is when Santa finally comes. He walks from house to house carrying a lantern and knocks on the door. He walked in the room and asks if there “are any good boys or girls here?” Then he hands the gifts out to all the kids. Santa in Sweden is not the traditional Coca Cola Santa. This Santa is skinnier and more plastic (it has to be the plastic mask that they wear). I actually find this Santa a little scary. If I was a kid, I really would. Once the gifts are distributed, then it is the last fika of the day. This is usually between 11 and 12.

The 25th is, as sad as it sounds, is nothing. Most Swedish families will meet up with relatives, but for the most part the holiday is over. The Christmas lights and decorations will not be taken down until mid January.