Jul i Noreg (Christmas in Norway)


Christmas Tree

Jan and I went up to the mountains to cut down Christmas trees from the forest. I was so excited to cut down my first Christmas tree!



Nissen Barne (St. Nick's Children)

This is so neat. My school split up into groups, and my group preformed a little, traditional play called "Snekker (Carpenter) Andersen" to the local pre-school. I play the role of Santa's child, and of course, St. Nick and his family lives in Norway! Then we sang a traditional Christmas song to the little kids. It really put in into the Christmas Spirit and seeing the all pre-school children dress up as little Sanats was funny, which is a tradition as well.



Backyard

This was our outside "Juletre" (Christmas tree) with lights. It started to snow just before Christmas Eve and snowed for the next couple of days!


The Lighting of the Christmas Tree

This is my town's Christmas Tree. Apparently the night before we lite the tree, some trouble-makers cut the tree in half, and a new tree had to be found. I thought that was sick that someone could do something like that.. but all went well and we watch the "Lighting of the Tree."


Gløgg

This a traditional Christmas drink, Gløgg. It is served warmed with crused almonds, raisins, nuts, and mixed with redwine. It smells of Christmas! We drank it the day before Christmas Eve at my host-grandmother's home with spice bread. Christmas in Norway is celebrated after 5 o'clock, when the church bells ring all over the country, on Christmas Eve. My family had a traditional meal of cured (salted) rib of lamb before exchanging gifts, all on Christmas Eve. In the old times, Christmas lasted 20 days, but now it ends on New Years.



From left to right- Me, Kurt (my host brother), and Kristoffer (Kurt's cousin). The whole family sat around, drinking gløgg and talking about old times. And for those you know, we also watch the British clip of the drunken bulter James and the Millionaire.



Ribbe (Cured rib of lamb)

This is a photo of our Christmas food, "ribbe." It is salted rib of lamb and tastes so good. It is served with potatoes, rutabaga, and sauage.



Sleding

Some friends and I went sleding down some very, very long mountians roads. It took us about 5 minutes to get to the down! It was incredible!







Snø (Snow)

I loved the snow so much. There was about a foot and a half of snow!



Hopland

We went to a nearby town for a litte norwegian party! We danced some, well I tried, traditioanls Norsk Dance. I had such a blast and met some really nice people! (Også, hivs kan du snakker norsk, eg var så full! :P )



New Years Eve!

We went out and lite off many huge fireworks, and I poured the champagne! It was so nice to hear the all of the fireworks from other farms and the echos coming off the mountains! The hills come alive, with the sound of fireworks.........



New Years Eve!



New Years Day Dinner

For New Year's Day Dinner, Margrete made a Turkey dinner for me, as well as stuffing!


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