Christmas tag

Good evening!

I've been catching up a bit on my favorite blogs these past days and was inspired to do a Christmas tag. I've seen a few different tags out and about and have picked my favorite questions and mixed them as some answers might explain an answer further down in the tag. Hope you enjoy it!

Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?

In Sweden Christmas Eve is actually the big day. For my family it means that we gather with grandparents, aunts, uncles an cousins in either my family's house or at my grandparents, just before 3 p.m. That is the magical time of the year when Donald Duck's Christmas starts. It has been a tradition for generations, and a change in that is a very sensitive subject for all Swedes. During the show we eat all sorts of cookies and mulled wine or a sort of Swedish Christmas root beer. (Or coffee for Grandpa).

When the show is over we talk for a bit during the last preparations for the dinner is being made. Our Swedish Christmas smorgasbord contains pickled herring, salmon, eggs, ham, meatballs, chipolata sausage, potatoes, red cabbage, Jansson's temptation (a gratin of potatoes and anchovy), mackerel in tomato sauce, brussels sprout... The list goes on forever.

After the dinner, Santa usually comes to visit for a few minutes before it's time for the Christmas gift game. (Read about it in this post if you haven't heard about it before) During the game we of course eat all the candy we've made.

When the game is over and all presents are opened, it's time for the rice pudding, hoping to find the almond! I tend to find the almond every year and always win the glory and a box of chocolate. (Last year my grandmother put a second almond in the pudding to give everyone else a chance too. Guess who got both the almonds? Yup, that was me!) Then we just sit for a few hours and talk until everyone is ready to roll home.

Christmas seems to be all about the food, but we do have a lot of fun with all the loved ones as well. I'm sure you all know the drill!

Do you open your presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?

As I just wrote about, Swedish Christmas is on Christmas Eve and that is the time when I get, and give, my Christmas gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. I don't get all of the gifts then though.
On Christmas day it's just me, my parents and my sister and brother. This year my boyfriend will join us too, since he has become a part of the family now. In the morning everyone is laying their last hands on the gift wrapping, maybe writing a last gift poem and such. For lunch/early dinner we eat the left overs from the Christmas Eve dinner and as soon as it gets dark outside we gather around the Christmas tree to give each other our gifts.

Do you like to stay in your PJ’s, or dress up for Christmas?

For Christmas Eve I always dress up, but Christmas day is usually PJ's all day.

Which do you like better, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

This one is impossible to answer! I love Christmas eve with everyone around me, and I love the quality time I get with my closest ones at Christmas day. But ever since I was a child there has been something special with Christmas Eve, and I do get to meet family that I don't see every day so maybe a little advantage for Christmas Eve.

Have you ever built a Gingerbread house?

I did sometime when I was younger. My mother built it and we helped with the decoration. Me and my sister have been talking about building one for years, but we never seem to find the time with everything else that we want to do.

What do you like to do on your Christmas break?

It has been years since I had a Christmas break. Working in a store, Christmas is the most busy time of the year. But since I'm not working this Christmas I look forward to just relaxing, watching movies and I really hope for some snow to play in!

What’s your favorite Christmas meal or treat?

This is a really tough one, but I do love the Christmas ham so I think I'll have to pick that. Or my Father's toffee.

What’s your favorite holiday movie?

This one was easier! The Grinch! No Christmas is complete without watching it at least once.

Have you ever made a snowman?

Yes, of course! I love building snowmen. One year I built about 20 tiny ones. I wanted to build the whole soccer team that I support.

Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?
I think my childhood Christmases over all. When my parental Grandmother and Grandfather was still alive, my cousins' parents were still married and everyone was gathered at our house. At that time when Christmas was only magic, because you weren't aware of all the stress that it can bring as well. I LOVE the preparations and Christmas as it is now, but there's still something special about Christmas as a child.

Favourite Christmas gift?
I've gotten so many lovely Christmas gifts through out the years, but an all time favorite is the season tickets to my football games. It's a gift that lasts for a whole year and bring loads of memories for a lifetime. Also, it's one of my father's favorite gifts to give, for the same reasons, and as happy I am to receive the gift, I am to see the joy in his face as he hands it over.

What tops your tree?

Well... I guess this is where most people answer a star, or an angel, or a spire. It used to be a star. But this year my dad helped decorating the tree.

What's the best part about Christmas for you?

I think that the best part of Christmas for me is everything Christmas is supposed to be. With all the tittle-tattle of Christmas gift, the preparations, the food, all family close and the natural joy in everyone's eyes.

Hope you found this post interesting. If you have any special Christmas traditions you'd like to share, I'd love to hear about them in the comments below.

Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram