We do not call it a gingerbread house, though, but a peppercake house. I wonder why that is. It contains both ingredients - pepper and ginger. Why is it that in the English language it derives its name from the ginger, but we name it after the pepper? Strange..Living with my "foreign" girlfriend/partner, I constantly notice some things that are different elsewhere than here. One thing is about the Christmas tree. We got ourselves a really nice one this year, though not a Norwegian one. Ours is a Danish import. Anyway, normally we bring the tree into the living room and do the decorations on the evening of the 23rd, sometimes after the kids went to bed. So when the kids get up on the 24th, the tree is there for them to see for the first time.
Elsewhere the tree is brought in a long time before the 23rd, in some countries even on the 1st of December. To be honest I think I'd be fed up by the time Christmas came had it been in since then. We made a compromise - we brought it in on the 19th.
The main thing that strikes me as different - at least as to how I am used to celebrate Christmas, is that for me, the 25th of December has no significance. It is really like any Sunday. For many people, the 25th is the main day of Christmas, but for me it's always been the 24th that's been the day (and night, of course). It's the day of the main meal, and for the kids the day they've been waiting for because they open all the presents then, etc.
Well well, some pluralism when it comes to traditions can't hurt.. I guess it can only make things more interesting..
Anyway - I wish you all Happy New Year, and wish you all the best for 2010. As for the new year, I made myself quite a list of New Years Resolutions, and one of them is that I will stop neglecting my blog. 2009 was not a prolific blog-year for me. But through 2010 I will try my best to come up with one post every week.
4 comments:
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
Thank you very much for your kind words - it is very nice to hear. I guess like any skill, blog writing is something you get better at the more you do of it.
And as for the future; I think my muses are back, so there will be a more regular stream of posts on my blog this year :)
Interesting reflections and I know what you mean by mixed culture (I'm married to an American you know and she also wants the tree up before the 23rd).
Wishing you a Happy New Year and glad you'll keep up blogging :-)
Happy New Year to you too, Renny, and all the best for 2010!
I think it is quite interesting to notice all those little differences between cultures which are really so similar in so many ways..
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