Holiday Traditions

[Chris]

Thought I'd contribute a picture of our tree

[neph93]

@goosehd I’ve blogged the making of the pinnekjøtt almost every year on one thread or another here but will happily do it again tomorrow for the greater glory of this thread.

Beautiful trees gentlemen. Again, in line with conservative Norwegian traditions, ours won’t go up until the morning of «lillejulaften» which is December 23rd.

[Seul]

Best tradition: taking the first week of December off!.. See you at the party Richter!..

[goosehd]

We are running behind this year, but making our pudding today.  Promise that it tastes better than it looks.

[Giles]

Duck confit and Christmas pudding sent to me by a friend….....Both in a cool dark place for the next 4 weeks or so, the Christmas pud was made by him, bix was re-purposed  :D....

[Madame Buttonfly]

@goosehd - WOW, your tree is spectacular.  Would love to see close-ups of some of your family ornaments.

I love Christmas, and one of my favourite bits of the build-up is dressing the tree (with a glass of sherry or port on the side).  We usually have a big tree (but nowhere near as big as that!) This year is likely to be just me and G, so I have two 4-5 ft potted trees (we're hoping we can plant them and keep them alive till next year) and I plan to decorate them next week.  Usually I leave it till late December, but this year I'm all for getting a bit of festive cheer early.  I love the tradition of collecting ornaments over the decades, I especially smile whenever I uncover one that has been given me by family, or brings back memories of where I/we bought it on a trip.  Giles can be a big bah-humbug, but when the tree is done i know he loves it too.

@Chris your tree is splendid!  We use white lights and mainly glass, red and gold decorations.  I'm diggng the truly colourful approach - it's beautiful and can imagine the kids adore it.

@Chap I love that you enjoy traditional British Christmas pudding! The cross-over and sharing of traditions from different countries over the years has shaped all our Christmases.  But I also love that there are still very local customs that maintain our cultural identities.

To me, most importantly, Christmas is an occasion - whatever one's beliefs or nationality - when we can celebrate family and friendship and joy (and loads of sparkly decorations).

[goosehd]

@Madame:

To me, most importantly, Christmas is an occasion - whatever one's beliefs or nationality - when we can celebrate family and friendship and joy (and loads of sparkly decorations).

@Madame Buttonfly A beautiful sentiment that I wholeheartedly agree with.

Here are a few of my personal favourite ornaments with a little history behind them.

These first three are all glass ornaments that have been passed down from our respective families:

[goosehd]

This ornament was made from an apple tree that Laura’s great grandfather planted on the family farm.

When my parents met in the early ‘70s, they had little money and made their own ornaments.  This was made from a soup can lid, glue, and glitter.

[goosehd]

These last two are from Swarovski and are part of set’s that are released yearly.  We have purchased a set for every year for each of our daughters.  They will be passed down to them when it’s time.

[goosehd]

@Giles I loved the story of you and Alex decorating the tree in hand tied flys.  It would be a memory to be cherished.

@Chris Beautiful tree!  Thank you for sharing.

[goosehd]

One last ornament to share:

[Sage954]

Love seeing everyone’s traditions. We always cut our tree down the weekend after thanksgiving. Tree farm today. I’m dragging one tree and our son is dragging the other tree for my parents. My wife taking pics. IH tee and 634ii

[goosehd]

Six hours in:

[neph93]

Yesterday’s advent Sunday dinner, pinnekjøtt. It is effectively what we’ll be eating for our main meal on xmas eve (when Norwegians celebrate), only that version will have more frills.

[jordanscollected]

I love seeing these traditions. Rueben The beer sitting at your spot looks very tasty and so does the food, especially the sausage rope

[neph93]

It is a very salty, very fatty, very tasty dinner. The lamb rib is dried, salted and smoked. The sausage is smoked, and I did a twist with the potatoes this year. Normally you steam the lamb for three hours on top of a grate made of birch sticks. This time a put potatoes in the base and filled with water until it was level with the tip of the potatoes then put the meat on that. You’d think potatoes in hot water for three hours would result in a sludge but something to do with the salt and fat mixing with the water keeps them firm. And they tasted insane.

I paired the food with this classic beer from Germany for the first time. Worked a treat:

[dinobarnesberlin]

And not a salad in sight–---love it

[goosehd]

@neph93 Beautiful family and the meal looks delicious!

[Giles]

That's because Reuben is behind the camera…...

[Seul]

You just can't go wrong with Schlenkerla