Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!
Yes, yes, I know, I’m on parental leave. But of course I have to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, and if that’s not your thing, at the very least, let me say Happy Holidays!
My Christmas
Ever since we bought a house and had our first baby, we’ve been the natural hosts for Christmas and the given guests have been our families and closest relatives. This year, however, is going to be a bit different. We now have another child, our baby girl who’s now proudly wearing her new name Filippa, and also because tons and tons of relatives from Fredrika’s side are coming as well.
I think the current head-count is at least 18 people that will be crammed into our house, and it will be, what shall we say, interesting, trying to keep our children and all of the guests happy…
How we celebrate it
People will arrive at noon for a huge Christmas lunch, with all kinds of specialties that we Swedes eat for Christmas: pickled herring, potatoes, meatballs (yeah, what did you think? :-)), tiny sausages, ham, salmon etc. The plan is to be done with this by 15.00, when Donald Duck begins. What was that, you say? If you’re a Swede, you’d instantly know! For many many years now (46, actually), it has been tradition that the Swedish national television broadcast a certain mixture of comics with Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Jiminy Cricket and other Christmas-related figures.
I think that ,every year, this is the most watched show on TV, and that about 50% of the Swedish population actually see it. It lasts for about an hour, and after that coffee, cookies and chocolate (traditional chocoalte boxes named Aladdin and Paradis) will be served while we all eagerly await Santa’s arrival!
Then Mr. Claus hands out all the presents to everyone, and hopefully everyone’s satisfied with what they got, and more importantly, with the wonderful feeling of making other people happy with the presents you gave them. After that, it’s basically hours of trying to politely convince people to go home, so we can rest. 
Merry Christmas!
So, that’s how my family celebrates Christmas. If you want to take a minute to tell me how you celebrate Christmas, I would very much like to know and read it!
Also, God Jul is how we say Merry Christmas. How do you say it in your country?
