Yes, that time! Christmas arrives early - in some parts of the U.S. earlier than elsewhere so remember to check our Calendar often.
t'is the time
Yes, that time! Christmas arrives early - in some parts of the U.S. earlier than elsewhere so remember to check our Nordstjernan Events Calendar often.
A couple of SWEA organizations kick off Christmas early, such as SWEA New Jersey Julmarknad on Nov. 20 or SWEA Michigan, on Nov. 19 SWEA Michigan Julmarknad Christmas Bazaar
Here's a story by Lisbeth Nordstrom-Lerner about the Michigan event:
SWEA Michigan’s Julbasar
SWEA Michigan’s annual Christmas Fair is visited by about 500 people, including Swedes, Swedish-Americans, and others who are interested in seeing beautiful Swedish arts and crafts "hemslojd," woven table cloths, handmade Christmas decorations, or the typical Swedish electric Adventsljusstakar with five or seven candles, which you can see in the windows of nearly every Swedish home. Many of these beautiful items you can buy for your own home or give as a Christmas gift to a loved one.
SWEOR are busy selling baked Swedish limpor, imported herrgårdsost, Västerviksost or Grevéost, lingonberry jam, herring, Swedish Marabou chocolate, and bags with Dajm or raspberry boats.
You can buy home-baked cardemom bread and lussekatter (special wheat buns yellow from saffron), pepparkakor, and mandelformar. You can also sit down and have a cup of coffee with typical Swedish cookies and cinnamon buns. Or you can have open sandwiches with ansjuovis and egg, salmon, or meatballs with red beet salad. Maybe you will prefer the crisp Swedish waffles with cold berry jam and whip cream. The entrance fee of $2 includes a cup of hot glogg.
You can find Swedish books for yourself or a grandchild, both new and used. The children are well taken care of while making their own Christmas decorations.
The Lucia pageants with the girls dressed in long white Lucia gowns and boys dressed as tomtar will come in the darkness singing Sankta Lucia, They all sing Swedish Christmas songs and read about advent, while lighting the four advent candles. We also have a wonderful musical band with violin, key harp, and accordion playing all the well- known Christmas songs like Raven raskar over isen, Vi aro musikanter, or Midnatt rader, tyst det ar i husen.
Marie Nilsson, Margareta Lowinger, and I, who have been SWEOR nearly since SWEA Michigan started 20 years ago, have decorated the Swedish Room for the last couple of years. It is my absolute favorite place to be that day. We display hand-woven or embroidered table cloths, glass vases from the well-known glassworks Kosta and Orrefors , Swedish coffee table books, and items in wood, copper, or tin. We have a big Swedish flag on the wall hanging with Carl Larsson pictures or woven tapestries. We are sorry that we somehow lost our huge map of Sweden. It was so much fun to ask the visitors: "Do you have any ancestors from Sweden and where did they come from?" People really enjoyed finding the little town where grandma grew up.
For me, Christmas begins with our beloved SWEA Julbasar.
Lisbeth Nordstrom-Lerner, SWEA Michigan, Scandia, Swedish Club, Jenny Lind
