Today’s Post
It’s a well-known fact across the globe that Scandinavians, and Northern Europeans in general, love Christmas and New Year’s. We have some of the best Christmas markets, not to mention our many traditions and delicious holiday foods. These can range from eating lussekatter (saffron Lucia buns) at the Swedish celebration of Saint Lucia, to searching through delicious rice pudding (risalamande) for a whole almond on a very Danish Christmas Eve. The fact is that because it’s especially cold and dark in December in these areas of the world, we need as many holiday traditions as possible to cheer us up and push us through to spring. If you’re in need of some inspiration this holiday season, read on, and I’ll tell you how you can have your own Scandi-inspired Christmas and New Year’s!
1. A hot drink
The first thing you’ll need is a delicious hot drink. Bonus points if it makes the house smell good! It should warm you up on the inside, making you feel all cozy and cheerful. We love a bit of mulled wine (the alcohol adds to the warmth) but you can always go for a non-alcoholic gløgg or hot chocolate instead. And if you’d prefer a strong cup of coffee, well that would certainly be Scandinavian-approved as well! See some of our recipes below to make a hot drink worthy of a Scandinavian Christmas and into the New Year!
2. A showstopping dessert
Next on the list: a showstopping dessert, of course! Whether you’re hosting family or friends or it’s just you, a beautiful and delicious dessert just lifts the mood immediately for a festive occasion. It’s common to make a kransekage for New Year’s celebrations in Denmark, and it certainly fits the bill for a showstopper – rings of almond cookies stack to form a beautiful tower! You can also opt for a beautiful choux pastry ring, filled with whipped cream and fruit, or you can fill it with pastry cream! Check out our recipes below.
3. Homemade decorations
We Scandinavians love our homemade decorations, and the best thing is that they genuinely look nice. Well – correction – they look nice if you are reasonably adequate at arts and crafts! Speaking from experience, some people are hopeless and can’t make anything with paper and folding or cutting look nice. Nevertheless, it’s such a fun Christmas activity that gets everyone involved, leads to lots of laughs (and sometimes a bit of frustration), and results in lovely decorations you can use in your own home or give away to friends. See below for our YouTube videos showing you how to make Danish Christmas stars and hearts!
4. A good Christmas TV show or movie
Of course, no Christmas is complete without a good TV show or movie that gets you in the festive mood! But where Americans might watch The Grinch or Home Alone, Danes and fellow Scandinavians love to watch something called a julekalender. This is basically a series of 24 episodes that air in the lead-up to Christmas, like an advent calendar in the form of a TV show. The plots vary but frequently feature “nisser,” or the little elves that bring gifts at Christmastime. Instead of this, which requires quite a lot of commitment, you may choose to watch a Christmas movie every weekend in the lead-up to Christmas. Either way, Christmassy TV shows and movies are a must! A family favorite julekalender was called “The Julekalender” starring De Nattergale, where they spoke a mixture of Danish and English, which was very funny to our family! Here’s a clip of one of the songs in the show:
5. A countdown advent candle
If you follow us on Instagram or Facebook, you’ve probably seen stories of our kalenderlys burning and updates on how far behind we are (as always). This is a fun tradition that adds a bit of Christmas cheer to every day of December. You light the candle on December 1st, and continue to burn down another number with each passing day until you eventually reach Christmas! You might have gone the route of a traditional advent calendar instead, like one with chocolate, which is also such a great way to build up your excitement for Christmas. These days, you can also get advent calendars with beer, tea, coffee, or even cheese, so it really is just whatever floats your boat.
6. A real Christmas tree with real candles!
Okay so this one is not a necessity for a Scandinavian Christmas, as many nowadays have fake trees they can re-use each year, but it’s one we remember quite clearly from childhood! We would always get a real tree, much later than people normally do (around the 22nd or 23rd) and then decorate it. For the 24th, we would hang real candles on the tree and light them as we were dancing around the tree! And incase you’re wondering what we’re talking about when we say “dancing around the tree,” check out our Christmas traditions blog post. The candles would get extinguished right after, but it was definitely fun to watch the candles when you walked by. Georg Jensen has some rather fancy versions of the candle holders that you can put on the tree, here’s an example!
7. A unique savory main
This is definitely common in a lot of countries across the world, but typically you will see a main meat dish that you don’t eat at other times of the year. In Denmark, that would be a flæskesteg (roast pork with crackling on top) or andesteg (roast duck). You can see our recipes below! In Norway, you can find things like ribbe (pork belly) or pinnekjøtt (cured lamb ribs), and in Sweden you might see a Christmas ham! Whatever food is on your Christmas table, it’s always special to look forward to a meal you only get to eat once a year!
8. Hygge with family and friends
What is hygge? Well, it’s hard to explain, but that’s also a cop-out of an answer. A few years ago, hygge became all the rage in the UK and the US, with plenty of books and articles written about how to embrace Scandinavian hygge by buying a bunch of neutral-colored blankets and nice-smelling candles. But that’s a consumerist vision of hygge! In short, hygge is just what you feel when you spend time with people you love. It’s the vibe you can sense when you play a fun board game with your family or go out for drinks and catch up with friends. You can even feel “hygge” on your own, like if you take a nice warm bath with some candles and a hot drink and a good book. Hygge is within us all, and you don’t need to buy any new things to make a space or a situation “hyggelig.” And that’s truly what is key to a Scandinavian Christmas and New Year’s!
Thanks for reading!
Now, go forth with this information and do good this winter! I’m joking, of course. You don’t have to do a single one of these things if they sound horrible or like too much effort. But I can promise that they will brighten your day if you do try them. At the end of the day, this time of year is all about slowing down and savoring life for a brief period of time before getting back into our busy schedules. So enjoy it!
