making reagular2cooking regular2lovingliving regular2new reader3

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Lillejulaften - Little Christmas Eve

Julen dreier seg om tradisjoner, og som en som elsker julen passer jeg på tradisjonene som om de var hellige. Du vil aldri (og jeg mener ALDRI) finne et plastjuletre i stua mi. Det må være ekte vare eller ingenting. For meg er det ikke ordentlig jul hvis jeg ikke kan høre på jule cd’en min (her har jeg vært nødt til å være fleksibel siden platespilleren min sluttet å virke og jeg enda ikke har hatt ti til å kjøpe en ny) med klassikere som Bing Crosby og hans hvite jul, Brenda Lee som rocker rundt juletreet, Loius Armstrong som feirer jula i New Orleans, og Harry Simeone Chorale som synger om den lille trommegutten. Som 33-åring er jeg den eneste som fortsatt kan bli funnet på alle fire under juletreet mens jeg rister og klemmer på pakkene (dessverre er det alltid noen som passer på og det blir stadig vanskeligere å ikke bli tatt på fersken under treet). Hver dag i julen har sine små ritualer og gjøremål.

I dag er det lillejulaften. Hos oss er det gammel tradisjon å pynte juletreet denne dagen. Huset blir fylt med lukt av grantre, eskene med julepynten blir tatt ned fra loftet og flokene i julelysene må løses opp (for uansett hvor bra du pakket dem ned i fjor har loftsnissen floket de sammen for å underholde seg selv mens han ser hvordan vi strever med å få opp flokene). For meg er dette den første dagen med jul, den offisielle åpningen av julen. Lillejulaften er fylt med så store forventninger at jeg ikke kan beskrive det, for når du legger deg den kvelden vet du at det neste morgen vil ligge pakker under treet.

I tillegg til å pynte juletreet er det en annen viktig tradisjon på lillejulaften, nemlig ”Grevinnen og hovmesteren”. Jeg behøver ikke å si noe mer om dette til alle dere norske som leser dette for dere vet akkurat hva det dreier seg om (så hvis du vil lese det likevel må det bli på engelsk), men det jeg kan si er at jeg ikke kan gå glipp av disse minuttene med ”Same procedure like every year James” og ”cherio miss Sophie”. I kveld har jeg derfor en avtale med PC’n og You Tube klokken 20:00 for å holde tradisjonen og julefølelsen i live.

- GOD JUL!!!



Christmas is all about traditions. As a “Christmas lover” I guard the traditions as if they were sacrilegious. You will never (and I mean NEVER) find a Christmas tree made of plastic in my living room. It has to be the real thing or nothing. For me there is no Christmas if I can’t listen to my Christmas CD (on this I’ve had to compromise since my old record player broke, and I haven’t come around to buy a new one yet) with classics like Bing Crosby and his White Christmas, Brenda Lee rocking around the Christmas tree, Louis Armstrong celebrating Christmas in New Orleans, Burl Ives and the twelve days of Christmas and Harry Simeone Chorale singing about the little drummer boy. At age 33 I’m the only one in my family (I’m the oldest of four) still to be found under the Christmas tree shaking and squeezing parcels when I think no one is watching (unfortunately someone always seem to be on guard and so it is becoming more and more difficult not getting caught). Each day during the Christmas week has its peculiar do’s and don’ts.

Today is “Little Christmas Eve”. Since long, long time ago in Norway this is the moment you decorate the Christmas tree. The house gets filled with the smell of spruce, the boxes with decorations are brought down from the attic and the Christmas lights are disentangled (because no matter how well you packed them at the end of last Christmas, the “attic nisse” has made a mess out of it during the year to entertain himself seeing us disentangling them). To me this is also the first Christmas day, the official opening of Christmas. It is filled with an indescribable amount of anticipation because when you go to bed that night you know that when you wake up the next morning there will be parcels under the tree.

In addition to decoration the tree there is another important tradition on Little Christmas Eve named “The Countess and the Butler”, or as its original titled: “Dinner for One”. This is a comedy sketch written by the British Lauri Wylie for the theatre in the 1920’s and in 1963 the piece was recorded in black and white with a live studio audience. In Germany this sketch is broadcasted every New Years Eve. In Norway however it is broadcasted on Little Christmas Eve and has been since 1980. It has become an absolute cult television classic. In 1992 it was broadcasted two times because it was accidentally broadcasted 15 minutes before schedule and the Norwegian television station NRK received so many complaints that they decided to air it again after the eleven o’clock news (23:00/PM). In 2001 the Norwegian television viewers could vote if they wanted to see a modernized version of the sketch (i.e. in colours), but the viewers voted against it and it is still broadcasted in black and white.

Since we are celebrating Christmas in Barcelona this year I have a date with my PC and You Tube tonight, where the Countess and the Butler are waiting for me at eight o’clock to keep the Christmas tradition alive.


-MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!


15 comments:

  1. Feliz Navidad a ti tambien. Disfruta mucho de estos días.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fint innlegg! Kjenner meg veldig godt igjen, tradisjoner er viktig! Er spesielt enig i plastjuletreet. Nei takk, sier vi til det! Håper du får en fin og tradisjonsrik jul!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Merry Christmas to you!
    I very much do look forward to watching Dinner For One on New Year's Eve, without it New Year's Eve doesn't feel complete. It's such a lovely piece.

    ReplyDelete
  4. God Jul och Gott Nytt År Anne Marie!

    We were discussing yesterday whether all countries in Scandinavia celebrate on Christmas Eve, do they? I wasn't sure. We watch Dinner for One on New Year's Eve, that's the tradition in Sweden. And you probably know about Kalle Anka on Christmas Eve.

    Hope you had/have a wonderful day in any case with happy smiling people and warmth and peace. Love, xoxo, Caroline

    ReplyDelete
  5. Que pases una feliz Navidad y que empieces genial el 2008. Bss

    ReplyDelete
  6. Te he añadido a mis contactos, ya que me has servido de inspiración ;-)

    Que pases felices fiestas con quien quieres y sea donde sea.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  8. God Jul. I have many items around my home with those words since my heritage on my mom's side is 100 percent Norwegian. (My husband is 1/2 Norwegian, too.)

    Espero que disfrutes este tiempo de navidad en la ciudad bellisima de Barcelona! Cuidate, Stitcher S.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gledileg Jol!

    We also celebrate on the 23rd (the Icelandic in-laws). Smoked lamb, boiled potatoes with cream sauce, peas, red cabbage and laufabrod.

    Merry Christmas to you and yours and a very happy new year!

    ReplyDelete
  10. God jul och Gott nytt år! Hoppas du haft det härligt!

    Grevinnan och betjänten ska jag se på nyår! Igen.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Un beso y un buen año! Bo aninovo!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Feliz navidad y buena entrada de año ;)

    ReplyDelete
  13. hope you had a wonderful christmas - wishing you a happy new year! (would "god nytt ar" be right?)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Godt Nytt År til deg, Life in Yonder! Og tusen takk for dine koselige kommentarer i løpet av det siste året. jeg setter stor pris på dem, det skal du vite. Så ønsker jeg at du kommer med nye innlegg her i bloggen din iår også.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for letting me know you were here!