I’m Still Here!
It’s been a while so here’s a recap of what’s happened the past month
I’ve broken my number one goal of writing this blog, to post every week, but I think I have a pretty good excuse for my hiatus. I had a baby! We welcomed a little girl into our family almost two months ago, so we will now adventure as a family of four. Since it’s been a little while, I wanted to share a little recap of the way we spent the holiday season here in Norway.
Back in November we enjoyed a nice evening together with fellow Americans and some Norwegians from our town for a Friendsgiving dinner. It was hosted by a local who wanted to give us a taste of home while introducing some Norwegian locals to the traditions of the Thanksgiving holiday. This was the second annual Friendsgiving in town, but my family’s first time attending. Since we missed last year, I was excited to be able to make it this year to see and taste what foods were served.
The dinner and entire evening was a wonderful mix of American and Norwegian culture and food. The group who planned the event was led by a local who asked a couple in our group to help her put on the Friendsgiving. A team of Norwegian chefs and cooks made the meal for us, and a few families, both Norwegian and American, pitched in with some homemade desserts. It was hosted in a community center connected to the local church and held on a Sunday evening, which is traditionally a time to gather with friends and family in Norway. The meal consisted of turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, scalloped potatoes, lutefisk with all the fixings, pork loin, green beans, corn pudding, mushy peas, gravy, bread, and various homemade desserts. It was a nice taste of home mixed with Norwegian traditional holiday cuisine. The night also consisted of conversations and laughs with friends and new acquaintances, toasts and speeches, and a few songs sung by the chef who provided the meal. Overall, it was an enjoyable evening accompanied by a delicious holiday dinner.
Since a new baby joined the family throughout the holiday season, we had lots of visitors. My parents and my husband’s parents both made the long trip across the Atlantic Ocean to spend time with us over the holidays and meet the baby. It was nice to have extra family around to celebrate with and to have some extra hands to help with our toddler and newborn. We feel so lucky to have family willing and able to make the trip over to be with us. Even though there was a newborn in the house, we wanted to keep our traditions alive and did as much as we could to make the holidays feel magical and special for our toddler.
The two sets of grandparents weren’t in town at the same time, so this meant celebrating Christmas all month long. My toddler did not have any objections to this. We got some early snowfall which made for a “white Christmas” celebration at the beginning of the month. We went sledding in the front yard, made snowmen and snow-angels, and had plenty of snowball fights. We decorated the house early, lit candles after the sunset mid-afternoon, drank warm beverages, worked on puzzles, and got cozy on the couch for holiday movies. I believe the Norwegians would use the term koselig to describe our holiday experience. It’s a feeling of coziness, comfort, or contentment, and it is vital to Norwegian culture.
One holiday tradition I wanted to make sure I didn’t skip this year was making homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I did this not once, but twice. One batch for each set of grandparents’ visit. It is our Christmas morning breakfast and I’m working to find just the right recipe. It’s still a work in progress but this year’s batches were much better than last.
Christmas dinner varied between visits though. For my parents, we made a traditional Norwegian meal with ribbe (prokbelly), rødkål (red cabbage), honningstekte epler, svisker og løk (honey sauteed apples with prunes and onion), and gravy. It was a delicious meal and everyone pitched in when making it. When my husband’s parents were in town, Christmas dinner consisted of T-bone steaks, broccoli, and roasted root vegetables. An equally delicious meal with a more American feel. It was nice to have both types of meals throughout the holidays.
Luckily, the Trondheim Julemarkedet (Christmas market) was going on while both sets of grandparents were in town, so we went twice. The market in Trondheim is not as big as other markets throughout Europe, but it is still a festive occasion where you can experience the holiday magic and eat some traditional holiday foods of the country. My son’s favorite is nissegrøt, a rice porridge affectionately named “Santa’s porridge” and similar to rice pudding, topped with butter and cinnamon sugar. He cannot get enough of it. When Norwegians make it at home for Christmas, one bowl gets a raw almond stuck in it. Whoever has the bowl with the almond is blessed with good luck for the year.
The Christmas market is filled with a variety of booths selling homemade gifts like wool clothing items or accessories, ornaments and other trinkets, and food items to eat at the market or to take home. The two main focal points of the market are the tall ferris wheel and large food hall under a tent at the center of the square. My husband and I took our 2-year-old on the ferris wheel this year while my parents waited with our newborn at the bottom. The food hall sells hot meals and fun drinks. There was also a small gingerbread village to look at inside the tent. We had so much fun on both trips to the market.
New Year’s Eve and Day were spent with my husband’s parents. We went to a New Year’s Eve party for a few hours with friends and then home to ring in the new year. Norway celebrates the new year with lots and lots of fireworks. We didn’t set off any at our house, and neither did any of our immediate neighbors, but we could see fireworks all around us and across the fjord. It was nice to be able to turn the lights off and watch the fireworks through our living room windows, not having to brave the cold, wind, or loud noises. In my family, every New Year’s Day includes eating a big pot of chili and watching football, so we did just that.
By January 3rd, all of our visitors were gone. Our house felt a little empty the first week of January. Our toddler has mentioned how much he misses his grandparents now, but I think that just means he had a great time with them while they were here. We are looking forward to more visitors in the future, and we’re so thankful for the time we got to spend with them here. We had over a month of extra family members in the house which made for a very koselig holiday season.
