Jul i Norge!

Christmas in Norway

So much has happened in such a short amount of time, I don't even know where to begin!
Well, let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start).


Cousin Party

On Thursday, December 22nd all of the cousins from Mamma's side of the family got together for a party. The party was held at my aunt and uncle's house because we all would fit inside there. It was great to have everyone all together and I was having a lot of fun until I saw what was for dinner. Well, I had known what we were eating for a while before the party, but it never really hits you that you are going to eat smalahove until you see the faces staring up at you from inside the huge cooking pot.

Oh, and did I mention that smalahove is Sheep's Head? 

Well, I had a lot of trouble with this. It is probably the most traumatic thing that has happened to me since I've been in Norway. I didn't have to eat it... Nobody pressured me, except me.  

I wasn't thrilled...

 When they put the sheep's head down in front of me, I freaked out and sort of started to cry.
I really didn't want to eat it.

But I wasn't the only one who was skeptical...

Maybe it won't be so bad....

I know some of the others enjoyed it at least:

Well... Only some of them...

I tried to eat it.. I really did! I took four bites off the cheek, but then I couldn't do anymore. THEN I found out that part of the tradition was to eat the eyeball... Herregud... Oh my god...

I sat at the table for an hour before I could work up the courage to eat it. 

I cried again. 

I would almost put it in my mouth, then I would take it away, then I would try again but I swear there was an invisible wall blocking the eyeball from entering my mouth. 

While I was trying to eat the eye, Kristian (who had totally eaten his sheep head) asked if he could have the lower jaw of mine. Of course I told him to take it.

Finally, I put some cider in my mouth, shoved the eyeball in and chewed. I tried to swallow, but I had to chew it more. I gagged and almost threw up on Kristian... And then....

And then, finally, I swallowed the eye. I quickly drank the rest of my glass of cider as some of my cousins cheered. 

Phew! The worst part was over! But for the rest of the night I had to try to forget that I had eaten an eye because whenever I thought about it I gagged (and I still do if I think about it too much!)

There is a bone in the sheep's jaw that when you find it, you are done eating. Right after I had eaten the eye, Knut (one of my cousin's boyfriends) pulled the bone out of the remnants of my sheep's head and said "Look Avery!" and handed it to me. 

I was so relieved to be finished!

Victory!!!

Can you tell how upset I had been before that picture was taken? 

Regardless of how awful it was at the time, I don't regret trying it at all... I mean, how many of my friends will be able to say that they have eaten a sheep head? 

Sometime down the road it might be a good conversation starter too.
You never know.

The rest of the party was a ton of fun and soon the trauma of the sheep head was forgotten.

Cousin-ly love

Where be your gibes now? 

Kjempeform ;)

Berit! Dessert! Yay!

Skittles toooooo

"Det gikk på engelsk og norsk, engelsk og norsk"

I want attention too!

Look a camera! Try to look pretty...

Thanks for the awesome hats, Knut!

I want a hat like that...

And after everything.... I was exhausted...

Even though it started out rough, it turned out to be a very fun party.

Lille Julaften! "Little" Christmas Eve
Lille Julaften is Christmas Eve eve. Every year my family goes to visit some friends, who just so happen to be one of my classmates family. We went and drank tea and coffee, ate Christmas cookies and watched a show that airs every year called "Dinner for One." After that we played a board game and ate popcorn while our parents talked in the other room.

"Same procedure as last year Miss Sophie?"
"Same procedure as every year, James."

Julaften! Christmas Eve!
Norway and the USA do Christmas a little bit differently. In the US maybe the most exciting day of the year is December 25, Christmas day. Early Christmas morning my brother and I used to sit at the top of the stairs all bright eyed and bushy tailed waiting for everyone else in the house to wake up and get ready to open our presents! The suspense was unbearable, or so I thought, until I discovered that in Norway they open their presents on Christmas Eve, but late in the day, after dinner and everything. So all day Johan and I stared at the presents sitting nicely wrapped under the tree.
We. Couldn't. Wait.

Bestemor og Bestefar (grandmother and grandfather) and one of my uncles and his girlfriend came for dinner. We had a very nice meal.

Then finally it was time to open presents!!! It was so much fun. Johan and I took turns passing the presents out. We would read who it was to and who it was from. I think everyone enjoyed when it was my turn to pass out presents because some of the names on the "from" parts of the tags were a bit challenging for me.

Time to open them!

Thea, Johan and I... Can  you tell who was excited to open the presents?

E du spent å, Katt?

Present from home :)

I needed scissors to get the box open

"IL♥VERMONT"

New Vermont hat and pen

Beautiful matching sweaters, beautiful expressions....

She got a vacuum cleaner.

New coat!

A bag of Vermont! Maple syrup, maple candy etc. 

SO MANY NEW PRESENTS!

And after everything, I was exhausted....

Tired but happy...

JUL! Christmas Day!

This day was extra special because, not only was it Christmas day, but it was also Louise's first birthday!

Gratulerer med dagen Sweety!

We had a very nice lunch at Kristian's house. It is fun finally having all of my host siblings together again.

After lunch with Louise, we went to dinner at Bestemor og Bestefar's house. The whole family was there (it is the tradition) and it reminded me a lot of what I used to do Christmas Eve with my family in the US. It was very cozy.

Mamma og Tante Brit

The house was so warm because there were so many people there! We had sodd for dinner, which is a type of meatballs, meat, carrots and potato in a broth. It's a very Norwegian thing to eat.

After dinner I went back to my cousin's house with her and a bunch of others and watched a movie.

Second day of Christmas!
You might think the celebration stops there, but you are wrong! As I said earlier, Christmas in Norway lasts for a whole week! The second day of Christmas was very special and very busy. The family had breakfast around 10. In addition to Mamma, Pappa, Johan and I, we had Thea, Maren and Kristian and one of his friends (Torbjørn) at the house for breakfast.  Around noon Pappa, Kristian, Torbjørn, Johan, Thea and I walked down to one of the neighbor's houses to try different kinds of home made beer. It was quite an adventure.

Getting ready

And off we go

We walked through the woods to avoid the icy road.

Short break to drink some beer.

Another short break.. drink some more!

Over the fence and through the woods... 

And across the neighbor's field

Finally, after slipping down icy roads, stumbling over roots and stumps in the forest, trudging through muddy fields and hopping a fence and about every 50 yards stopping for a beer break, we could see the neighbor's house! When we reached our destination, we entered the little house and were greeted by a bunch of the other neighbors and their different types of home made beer. It was very cozy and warm compared to the weather outside. My camera fogged up when we first were inside.

The camera was a little fogged up here

My lens was almost clear

I think this is the first time I've ever gotten a normal picture of these two...
and that is only because they didn't know I was taking the picture.

Kristian and Torbjørn 

Pappa with one of the neighbor's beer

This picture basically sums up Christmas in Norway:
Julebrus, malt øl (homemade beer), clementines, chocolate and a red candle.
Yup... It's got everything covered.

Thea's cup

Skål! Cheers!

D var koselig. It was cozy.

I think we all had a good time!

This is a tree that got knocked down by Dagmar, a really bad
storm we had on Christmas Eve.

Thea and I left a little bit early and we walked home. A while after the boys came home too. We had dinner together and then got ready to go to a party at Kåret (the house where my cousin Ragnhild lives). That was so much fun too! Quite a few of us visited Bestemor og Bestefar and then after spending a little more time at Kåret, we all packed into a few cars and went to a party in Færbøgda. I danced with quite a few people (it was a live band! Perfect for swing!) and actually got 2 compliments on my swing dancing... That's right! TWO people told me I was pretty good at dancing! Who knew?

Third day of Christmas
The third day was just a day to take it easy and rest up. I had had quite a few very late nights right in a row. We all slept for quite a while. Thea and I spent the day with two of her friends and in the evening went with them to watch a movie and eat tacos.

Fourth day of Christmas
On the fourth day of Christmas we were invited to a party at another family's house. I was expecting it to be a small party with maybe 10 people but when we got there there were about 50 people there! All of the people my age were downstairs, so I joined them. Johan and Maren left right after we ate, so I was left with a group of people who I didn't really know at all... I was a little nervous, but then we started playing a game called Alias (it's basically like that old game show "Password" except it is in Norwegian). It was a little difficult with the still partial-language barrier, but once we got the hang of it, it was a ton of fun! There were a lot of miscommunications, misunderstandings, lucky guesses and laughter. Eventually we went upstairs for the first time I got to participate in the Norwegian tradition of dancing around the Christmas Tree. Everyone formed two circles and everyone held hands, we circled the tree and they all sang different songs about washing the house and clothes in preparation for Christmas. I was standing between two very nice people who helped explain the songs to me. The whole time I had that stupid beyond-enjoying-myself grin plastered on my face. A lot of people here were very surprised to hear that it isn't a tradition to dance around the tree in the USA.

Fifth day of Christmas
On the fifth day of Christmas there was a very big party at Lånke hall. It was so much fun! I saw a lot of people that I knew and I danced for most of the night (it was a live band again so great for swing!).

Julie and Maren :)

Leaving for the party 

Lovely

I found my friends!

I made new friends!

New Years Eve!
The last day of the year! We had quite a few visitors. We started out the evening by watching the King of Norway give a speech. After that we all at dinner and later we had a group quiz-game type thing. I was on a team with Thea and one of her friends.. We did really bad, but I wasn't very helpful at all because all the questions were in Norwegian (difficulty understanding fully) and about Norway (I've never heard of that town... How should I know history about it?).

Well it was fun anyways. Then when Midnight and 2012 were fast approaching, we all bundled up in warm clothes and gathered outside. Every once in a while there would be a firework shot off somewhere down the valley and it would pop then fizz off into darkness again. We lit a few off ourselves and it was really nice. As midnight got closer and closer, fireworks in the valley became more and more frequent. 5 minutes to midnight and there was a steady  stream of pops and fizzes from different areas in the valley. 2 minutes to midnight and the valley was sparkling almost constantly at this point. 1 minute left in 2011 and the valley was bursting with colors and sparkles.
Midnight.
Fireworks here, fireworks all the way down the valley.
Godt Nyttår!
Happy New Year!

It is 2012.