LILLE JULEAFTEN

Illustration by Finnish painter Rudolf Koivu

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Today, December 23, is Lille Juleaften, Little Christmas Eve, in Norway. Norwegians take great delight in Christmas, and are only too happy to begin celebrating it early and extend it way beyond Christmas Day. In this post I'm sharing my Norwegian Christmas decorations. Since I do not have a digital camera, and haven't figured out how to use my new scanner, the illustrations you will see here are from the Internet. I will also show some Swedish and Danish decorations. I recently found out I have a Swedish ancestor among many Norwegian ancestors, and my husband, in addition to being half Norwegian, is also of Danish descent.

"Brita Med Juleapplen"

("Brita With Christmas Apples")

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Brita (or "Apple Girl" as she is also known) has become a symbol for Scandinavian Christmas. Famed Swedish painter Carl Larsson often used his children as models for his work, and this painting is no exception. He dressed his daughter Brita in this costume for a painting he was doing for the cover of a magazine. I have this painting as a mini flag/wall hanging, and also on mother-daughter aprons for Kristen and me. I got them when she was about five years old. How I wish I had had someone take a picture of us wearing them!

"Lefse Girl" tile by Suzanne Toftey

In the past, I have given my sister and Dan's niece a number of these Norwegian tiles/trivets designed by Suzanne Toftey for Christmas. However, for many years I myself only had one tile. But this year, I gave myself permission to treat myself to at least one tile a year. Each tile in the series features a Norwegian child or children with a Norwegian Christmas delicacy.





Toftey also created a series of plates featuring the nisse, or Norwegian house sprite or gnome. In this plate the Julenisse (Christmas nisse) sets out a juleneg, a Christmas treat for the birds.




It wouldn't be a Norwegian Christmas without the julekirv or Christmas woven heart. It can either be a two-dimensional ornament for the Christmas tree, or made into a three-dimensional basket to contain Christmas goodies. The red and green version you see here is the traditional color combination for Christmas, or it can be red and white or created from the colors of the Norwegian, Swedish or Danish flags.


The Julenisse can also take the form of a Julebukk, or Christmas Goat. This straw goat is beloved of both Norwegians and Swedes, who call it a Julbok.




These angel chimes, a cherished memory of my childhood Christmases, can be purchased very inexpensively. The heat from the candles causes the angels to rotate and strike the chimes to produce a light tinkling sound.





Lovely Danish cutouts like the one above are delicately made and must be handled and stored very carefully from year to year.


To be a true Norwegian, one must have some sort of decoration painted with Norwegian rosemaling, a form of tole painting. The name is derived from the words "rose painting."

The Danish Bing and Grondahl and Royal Copenhagen companies each issue a Christmas plate every year. I have only two, which I purchased the first year we moved into our house 26 years ago. That year, my mother-in-law exclaimed during a visit, "Those are terribly expensive!" For some reason, her comment prevented me from ever purchasing another one. How I rue that decision. I have spent way more money over the years on much more foolish and expensive things than these!

Speaking of expensive decorations, one is the Swedish wooden Dala horse, above.

Another expensive decoration is the Swedish electric candolier, above. Because I only recently learned that I have a smattering of Swedish in me, and because of the price, these two decorations are only on my wish list so far.

Another kind of decoration that can be expensive are these Norwegian figurines. However, I have a similar, knock-off set purchased for very little at Wal-Mart!

Now that these decorations have been placed around the house, let's proceed to the Christmas tree:

All Norwegian Christmas trees MUST have painted red wooden hearts

and woven straw ornaments.

A nice addition to a Norwegian tree is an ornament made from Hardanger, a Norwegian cut-work embroidery.

Other painted wooden ornaments are also a must on the Norwegian Christmas tree.

Finally, a true Norwegian Christmas tree will have real lit candles (or electric in modern times), apple ornaments (I use flocked apples purchased in sets of a dozen) and flag banners. I was told by a Norwegian relative that the flag banners are supposed to go up and down, whereas I had wound my Norwegian flag banner round-and-round like a garland, as shown here. Since this illustration provides me some validation, I'm leaving my banner as is!

All the decorations are set out, the tree is decorated and lit. All that is left is to turn down the lamps and say, "Glaedelig Jul og Godt Nytar" ("Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!")