The Holiday Special
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Hello, everyone, and welcome to a very special episode of the Sweet Pole Podcast, Chasing the Sweet Things in Life. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. It's our holiday special. Yes. And it feels like it because it's super cold in Palm Springs this cold and rainy this week. It's not exactly super cold.

Well, the rest of the country. Cold for us. Yes, I know. I know. What have we been up to? Anything fun? Oh, you had a weekend off. Yes, finally.

The only weekend off in four months. I know, that's crazy. Yeah, which was really nice. Yeah, we went to the swap meet up in Yucca Valley. Yeah, we went to the swap meet on Saturday, which is really fun. Farmer's market. Farmer's market, bought some art. We went to drag brunch. Went to drag brunch. That was fabulous.

It was. Yeah, we had a good weekend. Took naps, ate more food. Just literally. It was a little too much food this weekend. Yeah, we ate a lot. Now we're sort of back to normal until Thursday. If you listen to this, we record this episode the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. So hopefully it was delicious. I'm pretty sure. We're going to a big party. Lots of people.

Lots of food. Yes. That's the way. I'm very excited. That's the way it is. I'm very excited. Yes. Okay. Christmas. Christmas. Yes. All things Christmas. And Christmas only because that's the holiday that Paul...

celebrates in Norway. Yes. But hopefully we've got some questions that have to do with all sorts of other traditions, but we'll see. We'll touch on some. Yeah, I have to say, when I first moved to America, my ex was Jewish. I had no idea what Hanukkah was. Well, I grew up in East LA, and I didn't know what any of that was either. Yeah.

until probably I moved to Seattle when I was like 21. And then I was like, oh, there's something other than Mexican. I'm sorry, white lady. Just kidding. So the big family get-together is Christmas. Of course. Without a doubt. You know, we don't have Thanksgiving.

And it trumps every other... Don't say that word. Sorry. Sorry. It's bigger than any other holiday. Yeah. In terms of a meal. Meal, family, get-together, everything. Yeah. I come from a family that absolutely loved and adored Christmas. My mom was a big Christmas fan. Yeah. Mine too. My grandmother was a big one.

I'm a big one. Well, I'm a little less now as I get older. Less, yeah.

Because I feel like, you know, it's kind of like kids. It's big for people that have kids. Yeah. You know. But in terms of decorating and stuff, that's really why people are into it. I mean, when people have kids, it's fun to give gifts and all that. But, I mean, my mother loved it because she was so good at decorating. That was really what it was about. And she left the decorations up until after New Year's. Yeah, I think we...

Took down ours the first week of January. Yeah. We didn't put it up too early. I think some stuff went up and then the tree went up on the 23rd. That's late. Yeah. But that's kind of the tradition in Norway. Yeah. Here, you pretty much put your tree up after Thanksgiving. Yeah. No, we didn't. And I think that's better because that's like literally having it for one week.

No, I know. And let's face it, the time leading up to Christmas is always the best time. Yeah. Because there's like lights everywhere, there's music. But how could it be December 15th and you not have any decor up? Well, we had decor up, but not the tree. Oh, interesting. Yeah. That's a Norwegian tradition. Yeah. So what were your decorations like, your home and your family? So the thing was that both my grandmother and my mom loved...

the natural, like a natural Christmas, meaning that... Lots of greenery. Yeah, lots of greenery, moss, cinnamon. We had this huge old wooden bowl that we, every Christmas, would put, oh, what's it called? Closed spikes into oranges. Yeah, that's very Scandinavian. Yeah, so we would do that. We'd fill a bowl so the entire room would smell like that. It was a lot about the smells and...

Like the senses. Yeah. Bringing like natural. I remember one year my mom found, I think actually it was at Ikea, maybe in the 70s or something. She found all these red apples ornaments. And that year we had the entire tree was just red apples. Cool. And lights. It was actually really beautiful. Yeah. Did you always have a pot of glug on? No.

Because it's so fragrant. Yes. And also my grandmother would do like a big pot of just water, boiling water, and then she would add spices. Yeah, just for the fragrance. Just for the smell. Yeah.

Especially if we were having like guests over. Yeah, for sure. So that was amazing. Yes, we had the glug. Which is a mulled wine hot cocktail. It's like a toddy almost, a mulled wine toddy. Yeah, it's hot wine with spices. And you just have a little shot glass of it, but you put like...

almonds or raisins in it. It's very good. It's extremely delicious if you're outside. You know, you've been skiing or, you know, whatever. Did you add vodka to it or was it just the wine? I think ours was just wine. And you know when it sort of simmers all day, the alcohol kind of burns off. Well, when I was a kid, I didn't add vodka to it, James, okay? It wasn't that kind of childhood. Yeah, and another thing that was big in our house was all the cookies.

Yeah. So in Norway, we have something called syvsoktit, and that means seven sorts. So you have to have seven different kinds of cookies. Oh my God, really? Yes.

And it can be any or there's only a certain kind? No, it can be any of the holiday cookies, but you should have seven. Oh, my God. If you don't have seven, you're kind of like bad at your household. Okay. Yes. You need to get your money back from finishing school. My mom didn't really bake into that stuff.

So we have something called krumkake, which is translated would be like a crummy cake. Yeah. But it's this super thin kind of like a wafer that you cook in a special iron. And hers was so old fashioned that she had one. It was cast iron and she cooked them on the stove. Oh, interesting. And you cook them. And as soon as they come out,

you roll them up so they can either be a cone or like a cigar shape okay and the trick is to get them super super thin yeah because then they're just like but it was crispy and bendable it was bendable yes for like a few seconds when you take it out yeah and my great aunt could make them the thinnest most crispy krumkak ever they were actually so what were the flavors

They're just kind of like sweet vanilla-ish. Okay, yeah. She didn't put any spice in there. But they were kind of so thin that in some places you could see through them. Wow. Yeah. And I have never, ever been able to make... And they're like crispy. You eat them and they kind of like just... Crumble. Yeah, they just crumble apart. She made that. And my grandmother's Mourmouch favorite was Berlin-Kranzer. Berlin Reefs. I'm sorry, all these names. I don't know...

They don't make any sense. Which was these little crumbly sugar cookies. Yeah. Which had like the big pearl sugar on top.

And you make them into little wreaths. Cute. Which is the kind that has the almond flour? Oh, that's... That you make a tree, right, Adam? That's kransekake. So delicious. Yeah, and... They're gluten-free, actually, aren't they? They're gluten-free. And all of this, you find recipes on our website, sweetpormag.com.

Krantzekakke, it's egg whites, powdered sugar, and ground almonds. And you mix that. You leave it in the fridge for a day.

And then you have these special molds that you make circles in different sizes. So when you put it together, it's kind of like this tall pyramid. Well, it makes a tree. Yeah. So delicious. They have a great texture. Not too sweet. No. The great thing about all Scandinavian cookies, also cakes, is that they're not too sweet. Yeah.

We don't like stuff that is like too crazy sweet. Would that cookie tree count as one of the seven? It can. It can, okay. Yes, it can. My dad always called all these cookies in-and-out cookies because whenever you had guests, you would put them out and then they would put them back in the cookie tin. So they kind of went in-and-out.

Do you know what I mean? You mean the leftovers? Mm-hmm. You put them back? Well, you make a big tray of cookies. Yeah. And people eat what they want. The rest you put back in the tin. Of course you would. Why wouldn't you? So my dad called them In-N-Out Cookies. That's so random. Yeah.

Because they're kind of in and out of the cupboard. Oh, okay. Yeah. It's supposed to be funny. It's not that funny. But meaning you bring them out the same batch from multiple events. Oh, what is so weird is like...

In America, I feel like all the cookies would be gone by the end of one party. Well, the thing is, okay, let's put it this way. Let's say it's the 10th party you're going to. Yeah. Yeah, you're kind of over those cookies. Oh, okay. Yeah. So one batch can stretch the whole season. One batch can stretch the whole season. Oh my God, that's so funny. It's, yeah, because you know,

Between Christmas and New Year, when you had all these crazy food, the only thing you want is a salad. That's the only thing you want. I have to tell you my favorite memory of my mom. I must have been like three or four. There was no snow. I was just going to ask you. Normally, there's snow every Christmas. This was the 23rd. Oh, and remember, in Norway, the big day is the 24th.

Yeah. At night. Yeah. Not Christmas morning. Not Christmas morning. No. It was the 23rd at night, no snow. And I was devastated because how can it be Christmas without any snow? Yeah. I was small and I wanted to, you know, play outside in the snow. So, so disappointed. Then on Christmas Eve morning, my mom wakes me up and she's like, Paul, I have something to show you. And I can still remember going up to the window with her and she pulls the drapes aside and

And there was a winter wonderland outside. It snowed overnight. So it was one of those, you know, when the snow is like light and powdery and it just like fills the trees. All the branches are heavy with snow. Yeah. And then we got dressed and we went out, just me and my mom, and we played in the snow. Oh, so amazing. Yeah, that was very cute. That's one of the cutest memories I have in my life. Yeah.

I think I have a memory, maybe one year only, when I lived in the Catskills where it snowed on Christmas morning. And it's so magical. Yeah, it's very special. Yeah. But then also, I mean, most of my Christmases growing up

I remember sometimes it was 85 degrees in Los Angeles. Like so not. And your parents didn't bring in snow? No, I wasn't Tori Spelling. Oh, okay. Yeah. I think their parents brought in snow. They did. They brought in snow. Just what I was used to. I didn't really think about it. I just remember that one Christmas, it being very warm. But normally, it's just, it didn't really...

I wasn't longing for snow. You know, just the fact that there were presents under the tree. Yes. That was all enough. What happens in Norway for Christmas Eve is that you wake up early, of course, and you kind of start cooking early because people will usually eat maybe around five. A lot of people go to church. It's the one day of the year where the churches are full. Yeah. Other than that, they're completely empty. We didn't go to church. And I remember I was super excited.

every Christmas because on TV they showed a Walt Disney, like they showed it for like 30 years, the same thing. It was like a Walt Disney, like Christmas special. Oh, okay. With little cartoons and stuff. Yeah. I was super excited about that. Yeah. And also that was on Swedish TV that we had. Yeah. And on Norwegian TV, they showed a movie called Tante Posa. Yeah.

Which was this movie from like the 30s. Yeah. A Norwegian movie. And they show that every year for like 50, 60 years on Christmas. Yeah. So that was like a tradition to watch. Yeah. The only thing traditional for us was Charlie Brown Christmas. Oh, yeah. And then, of course, like It's a Beautiful Life or whatever that is. But I never really watched that. Did you watch Fanny and Alexander every year? Which is a beautiful film, but literally the darkest Christmas film ever made.

yeah i remember it takes a turn in the end yes i remember every christmas it's on tv but it's more it's not a movie it's uh they're turning into like a tv special i think it's three episodes three or four episodes the same story or the same characters the same thing it's it's the movie that just they turn into uh so it's like cut it up okay

I love the opening. If you haven't seen Fanny and Alexander, it's an Ingmar Bergman movie. And the opening will put you in a Christmas mood like nothing else. It's amazing. Yeah. But later in the movie, it goes a little dark. Yes. Let's put it this way. Yes.

Okay, so people come home from church or as me, I was watching my TV. You get dressed and then you eat. And you eat around usually five o'clock. And depending where you live in Norway, we live in Oslo. So that whole area, we eat crispy pork belly with the skin on, with the crackling on. And it's served with...

lingonberries, vegetables, gravy. Oh, and lefse. Lefse, of course. And sweet mustard. Yeah. And my favorite was always to break up the pork belly, put it on lefse with mustard and eat. Oh, it's so good.

Kind of like a carnitas taco. Absolutely. And as I said before, my mom made the best pork belly ever. Yeah. It was so good. So delicious. For desserts, it was always the same thing. It was cloudberries.

It's a Scandinavian berry, which is bright orange. Yeah, it's very expensive to buy. Super expensive. Because it's hard to forage because it's thorny. It's a thorny bush, I think. Well, it only grows in the mountains. Yeah. And they are kind of mushy. So when you buy them, they're kind of like very... Delicate? Yeah, they're very delicate. And they kind of become this very loose...

Well, yeah, the jam on ice cream tastes like caramel. Yeah, yeah. They're a little tart, and we would serve them with some cookies and whipped cream. And after that, everyone would have coffee. And I remember every year, I was like, oh, my God, please hurry up. What is the delay? Why is, like, everyone taking the time? Yeah, because you wanted to open presents. I wanted to open presents. So, after coffee and everything, and, you know, everyone has different traditions, but...

Then we will open the presents. And were you always just freaking out? Were you one of those kids that knew what you were getting or you would sneak to see? I had friends when I was a kid that would literally open the packages carefully to see what it was and then close it back up.

I'm like, no, I didn't do that. But I was made very clear on my list. You indicated what better to be under the tree. What I wanted. And one year I did something awful. So my mom came to me a few days before Christmas and she said, so your sister has bought you something. She bought it with her own money. And when you open it up, try to be enthusiastic because I know it's not what you want.

And do you know what I did? Which is awful. And I'm very ashamed of it now. I went and I unwrapped it. And I took it and I went to my sister and I said, excuse me, you cannot give me this. Are you serious? Do you know what it was? What was it? It was one of those Venetian porcelain masks with like a tear. I was like, no, no, no, no, no. That's not me. How old were you when this happened? Well, I was older than you think. I don't even know what to say. But she was young. She was. Yeah, she was very young.

Was she mortified or was she? I think my mom actually thought it was kind of funny.

It is kind of funny. They went and exchanged it and got me something else. Oh my gosh. Because I was like, you don't know me at all. This is not who I am. Yeah. Not hanging that on the wall. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, it's kind of good to like, why like do a whole charade? Like just be like, girl, this isn't. Yeah, that's more or less. Because then you would have had to kept it and not put it up and like kind of hide it and secretly throw it away. You know what I mean? I know, I know. So it was actually better. Yeah. Oh, talking about food. Yeah.

So we had a crispy pork belly. And then up north, they eat freshly caught cod with this buttery sauce and potatoes and dill. And it's actually really good. And then on the west coast of Norway, they serve something called pinnekjøtt, which is kind of like a rack of lamb ribs that's been...

smoked and dried. So what you do is that you steam them so that they're not dry anymore and becomes actually real delicious. And then you put them in the oven so that you crisp them up a little bit. That's very good. It's very salty, but it's super good. And it's usually served with mashed rutabaga, potatoes, and the juice that sort of is left in the pan.

A jus. Yeah, au jus. Or you can eat something called smalahove, which is a half head of a lamb. Stop it. Cut through, brains and all that removed. It's smoked and you heat it up in the oven. Yes. No. No.

No, it's like Viking food. Yeah, that's Viking food. I have eaten it once. I have to say like the meat, like the cheek and stuff was delicious. Yeah. Most food like that comes from either a poor culture or a culture that was... You have to use everything. Yeah. Or just a time in any culture where food is maybe not as plentiful.

It's kind of like that favorite soup of yours. Menudo? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, my family ate every part of the animal. My grandfather would take the blood and mix it with flour and spread it on toast, which I can't even. That's weird. Yeah. There was no part of the animal that wasn't eaten. Liver, intestine, everything. It's crazy. Yeah. It's crazy. But some of it can be delicious. Oh, yeah. Of course. Absolutely. Like in menudo. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Okay, we're going to take a little break and then we come back. We're going to talk about porridge and a pig. Porridge and a pig. Okay, porridge and a pig. The 23rd at night, we would eat something called Riesengrynsgröt. Oh my gosh. I know. Weirdest. I know. It's a rice porridge. So it's rice and milk.

Super simple. You sprinkle sugar on top. You sprinkle cinnamon on top. And you put butter in it. And it's actually super delicious. So my grandmother would make it every year. And then she would put an almond in one of the bowls. Yeah. And whoever got the almond won a marsupial pig. Oh, my gosh. Marsupial pigs are like a big thing in Norway before Christmas. Every family has one. Really?

And of course, it was always like the kids. So when I was, you know, when I was small, I would always get it. When my sister came, she would always get it. Yeah. It was cuter if we had like more people over. Yeah. Because then it was more like, oh my God, who's going to get it? We did that with putting a black olive in tamales. When my family would make, whoever got the black olive won something. I don't even remember what it was. Yeah, I think it started out with a pig and then we were like, okay, this is a little...

I think the last years it was like you got like a hundred crowns or something. Yeah, exactly. And maybe a little pig. Yeah. I know marzipan isn't a big thing in America, but I love... Well, not marzipan, but almond paste in anything that's baked is so delicious. I mean, you can literally mix almond paste with oats and whatever you have. Nuts...

whatever fruit and just bake it and it's the most delicious thing ever. We have these marzipan sausages. They're shaped as a sausage, but they're dipped in chocolate. I've never actually eaten marzipan, like as a treat. It must be very sweet. No, it's not. Oh, really? No, it's not. You know what it tastes like? That's what it tastes like. Oh, I imagine it being like pure sugar. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. So it's just almondy. Oh,

Because they always are super vibrant colors. Yes. And I'm always like, oof, my teeth hurt just looking at them. No, it's delicious. Yeah.

Can you remember what was your favorite Christmas gift ever? Well, I think there was always something that every year was like the most wanted thing. Yeah. And honestly, we didn't have very much money when I was growing up. So I remember thinking we would never get what we really wanted. Like I was very realistic, but I was always surprised that we got more than I expected. Yeah.

So, you know, there was always a different kind of toy every year. But I remember the year that we got the Atari game system. It was sort of one of the first real video game consoles. We got Atari and we got five games with it. And again, this was probably like $200, which was a lot of money for my family back then. And I remember just the...

So excited. And it was something that me and my brother both played with. But I remember going to school after Christmas break and feeling so like I was like the richest white kid on the block because I was like, we got Atari. I felt so cool. So that was really impactful because I didn't expect to actually get it. So that was super fun. I must have been very small because I can only remember like parts of it, but I wanted a puppy. Yeah.

Really? Yeah. The parts I remember is we're in this enclosure and there's a bunch of little black puppies around me. I remember that. And then I remember sitting in the car with my jacket on my knees and a little puppy like

bundle up in my jacket you remember that i remember those two things but you were too young to remember the whole but i'm too young to remember the whole thing so i must have been like two or three or something yeah must have been really small yeah yes i got a black poodle so you asked for it and you got it yes i asked for uh and we got that before christmas

Yeah. A few days before Christmas. Because I can remember it was cold. Yeah. I remember that too. Yeah, a black poodle. His name was Snip. So in Norway, what are those? They're not squirrels. What are they? Chipmunks. Chipmunks. Here, I think they're called Chip and Dale.

Yeah, Chip and Dale. Yeah. In Norway, they're called Snip and Snap. Oh. Snip and Snap. Yeah. So I had a black poodle called Snip. Oh, my gosh. Yes. Was it a tiny one? No, regular size. It wasn't a standard. It was a small poodle. Not the biggest one, the size underneath. Great animal who loved to get into fights. Oh.

Oh my God. With who? With other dogs. Oh my gosh. Yes. So I think we had to go to the emergency vet room five or six times and he got like sewn up and stuff. Oh my gosh. Yeah, he was crazy. But very, very sweet to me. I wasn't that worried about what I would... What I was worried about is the thought of getting something.

The thought of getting... Oh, something that you didn't like. That I didn't want. Oh. Meaning, especially like sports equipment. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I remember one year I really wanted a guitar. And my family, my mom, my dad was like always talking about hockey gear. And I was thinking, oh my God.

I don't want skates and a hockey stick. So they joked about that up until Christmas Eve on purpose. Oh, so they knew you. Yes. So I got a guitar. Did you learn to play? A little bit. I wasn't always the best at following things through. Oh, really? But I got a guitar. But what I also loved was finding the right gifts for... Other people. For other people. Yeah.

And I put a lot of time and effort into the wrapping. Did you get like a budget from your parents to buy gifts? Yeah, they would usually give me like a few hundred and then I would go out and I would buy. Stuff for everybody. Yes. My mom was easy because my mom wanted the same thing. It was this one romantic novel thing that she loved and I would get her a new book every year. I'd usually maybe like it, you know, perfume or scarf or, you know, whatever.

Yeah. And my dad was always a little difficult and he didn't really wear ties. So I would buy him like socks or a sweater or something like that. And for my sister, you know, she was kind of like, she was slim and she had big red hair and she was, you know, into fashion. So it was always fun to buy stuff for her. Of course. So I would buy like little fashion accessories for her. Yeah.

Yeah. My grandmother always wanted the same thing. She wanted nice smelling soaps or this German perfume called 4711. 4711? I think it's the world's oldest perfume still existing. What does it smell like? Kind of old lady. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Like baby powder. Yes. Yeah. A little bit. Yeah. She always, I don't even like Chanel number five. Cause to me it smells old fashioned, but yeah, it's not the best. No. Yeah. I always enjoyed giving gifts. Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. So then you would open all the gifts and, um,

After coffee. Yes, after coffee and after everyone was like... Did you each go around and take turns opening a gift? I can remember a couple of times when I was a kid, like a neighbor dressing up as Santa. The men where we lived would take like turns to be Santa that year. So one year, this was after my sister came. My dad was dressing up as Santa.

Yeah. And she walks up to him and she says, why are you wearing my dad's socks? Oh, no, stop. That was the year she stopped believing in Santa Claus. Oh, my gosh. The illusion. The illusion was broken. What should have given it away was the bad plastic mask. Okay. I mean, that really should have, like... Oh, my gosh. That's funny. Yeah. But, yeah, I remember we had this really beautiful Santa. Yeah.

old must have been my grandfather's like santa outfit yeah with like red sort of fake fur and this paper mache mask yeah it was actually really really pretty yeah so you know open presents play with presents and then just completely fall asleep yeah and then the next day christmas day no one does anything oh you just you just hang around all day in your pajamas yeah

Love it. Play with your toys. You eat. No one visits anyone. Yeah. Yeah. Love it. It's just a day for like. Yeah. Total chilling. When I was a kid, Christmas Eve was big too because that's when we'd go to my grandparents' house in East LA, which was my auntie Yoli's house that my grandparents lived in. This is my dad's family. It was so exciting because they would have the biggest Christmas tree. Mm-hmm.

And there would just be so many presents for all of the cousins, the grandkids, everybody. So when we were little, it was all about us, right? Yeah. So we would go there and my whole dad's family was there and we would eat tamales and eat menudo. And it was just so cozy. And they were all Catholic. So they had this whole large manger scene in the corner. Yeah.

And then my grandfather, Salvador, would put baby Jesus in the little manger. He would kiss it. It was so sweet. And then we would open gifts. It was all about the grandkids opening gifts. And we would get the most amazing things. But we wouldn't open gifts until midnight. So, we would watch Christmas movies or sing songs. But we had to wait until midnight.

Wait, on the 25th? On the 24th, Christmas Eve. Oh, okay. It was so exciting. We would open all the gifts and then eventually all the kids would be so tired. But the funny thing is, is every time we would leave

on Christmas Eve to go to my grandparents in East LA, we would get in the car and I later figured out, because we had our own tree and presents at home. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But when we were waiting in the car, that's when they would put out the gifts from Santa because there would also be extra gifts from Santa. Because by the time we came back after midnight, we were either conked out in the car or we would pretend to be asleep because we wanted to be carried in.

and put in bed oh my god I'm gonna that's what I'm gonna do next time we're out for a drive okay please carry I'll carry you to bed yeah

So then we would be put into bed on Christmas Eve. And then, of course, me and my brother would wake up at like six or seven in the morning. Oh, yeah, of course. Wake up! It's Christmas! So then we would go out and there'd be extra presents on the tree. My parents would wake up, probably make coffee, and then we would start to open gifts, each taking a turn, give them away. So then we would open all our gifts and then we would get dressed.

and go to church usually. And then after church, that was it. There's no formal dinner or anything on Christmas. What we would do is go to Jack in the Box or something, like the only fast food joint that was open on Christmas Day. We would have dinner there and then we would go to the movies. Oh.

Going to the movies, because again, it's one of the only things that are open on Christmas. Everyone goes to the movies on Christmas Day. So we would see whatever blockbuster movie was out. And that was always really fun. Yeah, that was the routine. Does America have that tradition where they hold hands and walk around the Christmas trees? No. And singing? No. There is caroling that happens where people will get a group together and they'll go around a neighborhood. Yeah, and go from house to house. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, we have a tradition that the Christmas tree should always be kind of like in the middle of the room. And then... Oh, interesting. You don't put it up by a window? Well, it's supposed to be in the middle of the room because there is a tradition where you hold hands and you walk around the Christmas tree holding hands, singing Christmas songs.

Norway's not really that religious, but would you sing traditional Christmas carols? Yeah. Like Silent Night? We would sing Silent Night, but we had a bunch of them that weren't religious at all, which were about... Do you sing Jingle Bells? So the thing in Norway is that you have the Santa, which is the Coca-Cola Santa.

Yeah. You have that one. Our Santa is called Nissa. Nissa. He's kind of a gnome. So he lives in all the stables and all the farms. Yeah. All the outhouses. And he takes care of the animals all year. He either lives there or he lives out in the forest somewhere.

underneath a tree like in the ground but he's little he's like a little gnome he's kind of small yeah every Christmas Eve you have to put out a bowl of porridge to the gnome to make him happy yeah if you don't it's gonna be a bad year

And he brings the gifts or he doesn't bring the gifts? He's the one that brings gifts. That's so sweet. I mean, now we do because, you know, every world's become like, you know. Yeah. Would you write letters to Nisse? Yeah. You would. Yes, you would write letters asking what you wanted. Yeah, so a lot of our Christmas songs is about him. Oh, okay. So we have religious ones and we have non-religious ones. So yeah, so we would every year put out...

Like food. We didn't maybe make porridge, but we would put a couple of cookies outside. Yeah. Outside the door. And they were gone? No, they were never gone. What? Your dad didn't like take a bite and put it? Oh my gosh. No, he didn't. No. I don't know if I ever actually believed in Santa Claus. Oh, okay. You were too clever. Clever boy. Yeah.

But yeah, that's some of our traditions. I'm sure we're going to talk about more because we have a bunch of questions. Yay. We'll take a little break and then we're going to come back. With what's up Christmas, sweet Paul. Yes. We are back. Put on your reading glasses, baby. I do.

What's up, sweet Paul? It's Christmas. Okay, this is from Kate. Hi, Paul and James. Love the podcast. Hope you keep it going. I am one of those strange people who enjoy home movies and interesting, oftentimes funny and bizarre family stories. So I'm really loving the podcast. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Yay! You specifically requested holiday questions, so here I go. Is gift-giving a big thing in Scandinavian countries as it is in the U.S.? And in what ways does it differ? Also, do you have the worst Christmas or worst Christmas present given or received story? And if so, can you please share it with us? Thank you for your time. P.S. As an aside, I don't know what that means. The evening of the day before my mom died in a hospital bed in my childhood living room, so literally...

her deathbed. She looked at me, sighed, and said, well, I may as well tell you this now. I proceeded to tell me several family secrets, which I found out later she hadn't even told her only sibling, my Aunt Maggie. One had to do with someone going to prison for embezzlement. Oh my gosh. Another was much more tame, but I can't tell you how much I enjoyed hearing them and thought it sad that my mother had waited until she was about to die to unlock that treasure chest.

We could have had such interesting conversations, but it was a different time when my mother was told, and they were thought of as shameful. I myself thought it colorful and added interest and intrigue to the family's history. After all, my great-grandfather had already done his time that fit the crime, but what more judgment was necessary?

LOL. We are all human and we all do wonderful and horrible things at different times. It's just life. Thank you again for sharing. It's so true. I mean, written anonymous is perfect. Yes. And not even sweet Paul is perfect. What do you mean? When you've confronted your sister about the gift she bought you.

That's really amazing. So any stories? What was the question? So the first question was, is gift giving as big? And then what's the worst? Oh, yeah. Yes. It's as big as it is here. Yeah. I think everywhere. Yeah, for sure. And you guys were spoiled. So it was probably...

Yeah, I was a little spoiled growing up. So yeah, we always got really good gifts. There was a lot of gifts. Yeah. So did any of your fears come true where you got something that you did not want? Yes. What were those things? Skates. Ice skates? Yeah. I got ice skates one year. And how did you react? I got skis. You know, the skis I chopped up. Yes. I got those. I got slalom, like downhill skis and boots.

I mean, they tried. I won them once. But how did you react when you got them? Clearly, you didn't hold back your disappointment. No, I think I was like... Did you fake it? I think I faked it. My favorite of getting was always... Well, when I was small, of course, it was like toys. As I got older, it was books or clothes. Clothes, yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

I remember one year, so it must have been like 12, and I really wanted this Huffington jacket. There was a brand called, well, it's still around, Moncler. Oh, yeah. That was big in Norway in like late 70s. Yeah. I really, really wanted one. I wanted like, it was navy blue, and it has like the symbol on the arm, and then it was red on the inside. Yeah, of course. Beautiful. I really wanted that, and I got that one year. That was like, wow.

Oh, my God. That was a really, really good one. The worst gift I ever gotten was actually I was 17 and a friend of my sister got me, you know those toys? It's like a little puppy dog that comes on a leash and you can, there's like a thing you can press and the puppy will like bark and walk. Yeah. A toy. Yeah. Yeah, I got that as a 17-year-old.

Oh, as a 17-year-old. Yeah. Yeah, that's strange. That was very strange. So that one and that mask that my sister never got to give me. Were the two worst. Yeah. Or just inappropriate. If you guys had seen it, you would have been like, yeah, I totally understand why you would return it. Yeah, exactly. No, I can totally picture it in my head. Yes. Completely. Yeah. Well, thanks, Kate, for sharing that story. What's your best gift and worst gift?

Oh, the best is clearly the video game. Well, one of the best was the Atari. What was the worst? The worst? I didn't really get any worse gifts. I think when it turned... Again, this isn't about any specific gift, but there's a moment in the family where...

you're no longer one of the kids. Oh, yeah. And I distinctly remember the year where we went to my grandparents and it was all about the great-grandchildren and no longer about us. I remember thinking, oh, I got like one little lame gift. It's the type of thing where like I was the age where they didn't really know what to get me, but it didn't really matter because I wasn't a kid anymore. And I was just like, oh...

It's kind of over. My childhood is over. Yeah. So it's more like that kind of moment. Sandy Zub asks, have the two of you considered or actually decorated your beards for the holidays? Oh my gosh. I've never done glitter beard. Okay. How can you do glitter beard? You're going to get glitter everywhere.

In your mouth? Yeah. I never understood that. Yeah. No, I've never put any ornaments or any glitter. You actually can buy tiny, like, beard ornaments. Yeah. And I saw now that you can buy these lights that you can put in your beards. Oh, my gosh. Hilarious. It's kind of cute. I would do it. Not glitter. I would never do glitter because, let's face it, you would have glitter everywhere. But, yeah, I would do ornamentation. Okay. Yeah.

Okay. Elizabeth Sharpeno. Yes, this is her other question because we answered one, I think, last week. Yeah, we did. I would love to know how you plan to celebrate the holidays in your new hometown. And then she...

Goes on to ask, now that you've lived in P.S. for a few months, where are your favorite places for meals out and local fun? Oh, okay. So the first part, holidays. So yeah. Oh, we haven't really figured out what we're going to do for Christmas. We haven't. I'm sure we're going to be here. We're going to probably get a tree soon after Thanksgiving. We'll get a little tree.

And then I definitely want to make a full Norwegian Christmas dinner. Of course. And we'll invite some good friends over to share that with us. Yes. So I can, you know, spread the joy of pork belly with crackling. Oh, yeah. To the world. Yes. Some good drinks. Yeah. I think we might try to do like a Mexican theme for the decorations. Yes. So like mini pinatas. Oh, I would love that.

You know, hot pink, orange, gold, like very green. There's colors that wouldn't work anywhere else that really works here in the desert. Oh, yeah. Like yellow, you know, all those colors. Yeah. Yes, totally. I'm not going to decorate myself to death because, you know, when you work with magazines, I've kind of been...

on the Christmas mode now for like a few months. Yeah. So I'm like, I'm not going to decorate too much. No, no, no. We'll just do a tree and we'll do lots of food. And we have to get new outfits for the boys. Oh, yeah. They need to get little Christmas sweaters because they're so cute in their sweaters. We'll do a tree and I definitely want to do the oranges with the club because it just smells so good. Yes. Little things like that. Yes.

And we'll post pictures on Sweet Paul's Instagram. And she asks where we like to eat. Yeah. Favorite meals out. There's lots of good Mexican. Yes. What's that one place with a queso? Do you remember what that's called? Oh, it's called... I don't remember.

what it's called but there's two of them here but they have the most luscious queso like it's real cheese yeah if it comes with chorizo yeah and it's one of those you know when you put your chip or whatever you put it in and you draw it up and you I literally need a pair of scissors yeah because the cheese is so cheesy gooey oh it's so good um

We have a place that does amazing smoked meat, pastrami and all that stuff. It's called Sherman's. Oh, yeah. Sherman's is so delicious. They also have the best cheesecake. No, sorry, carrot cake. The pastrami on the West Coast is much different than it is on the East Coast.

It's lighter. It's steamed. So it's like lighter. It's very juicy. And finer cut than the pastrami. So, so, so good. This is a place for a lot of good food.

Yes. I'm trying to look up what the Mexican restaurant is. Oh, yeah. Because if you come... You have Melvin's, which is kind of like your very old school... It's El Mirasol. El Mirasol. El Mirasol. It's delicious. If you go, have the queso. Yeah, or have the carnitas. Just saying. Okay.

Next question. This is from Kins D. Don't know if this is too specific, but here goes. I love Nordic Christmas decor, etc., but now live in a warmer climate where it's not always cold at Christmas. Think Anticovus.

Oh, because she went to Texas, right? How can I keep the Nordic look without it seeming too out of place, i.e. snow covered everything? I use a lot of natural components as part of the thing. Thanks. That's such a great question. Yeah, and as she said, it's what she does. It's using all those natural elements. You know, do the oranges with the clove. Yes. Get rid...

You know, a big bowl of maybe like cinnamon sticks. Get the nature inside. Yes. You know? Absolutely. Lots of candles. Yeah, don't worry about the snow. No, no, no, no. Moss. Yeah. Yeah.

you know word get all those beautiful yeah and make a nisse which you probably have the pattern to make it on sweetfall mag oh yes oh my god i i make the cutest like little gnome and it yeah it and it's you find it on sweetpole mag.com yeah super cute the crafts it's really really sweet you don't need a lot but it's finding a few of those elements you know and it's

The orange peel, the clove, the cinnamon on the stove. You know, the smell of pine and fir and all those. Oh, so good. Yeah. So it's mostly to get those. It's about nature. Yeah, it's about the nature, getting the nature inside. And, you know, it's about the senses. Yeah, absolutely. Mary Kate asks, I also want to ask about Christmas. What?

Was this a time filled with religious traditions growing up? Did you believe in Santa? Or if so, when did you stop? What did you do in the weeks leading up to Christmas to prepare? When you spent your first Christmas in the States, what struck you as different? Thank you and happy Thanksgiving. My first year here, and that was in New York.

on the Upper West Side, it was business as usual, Christmas. I come from a place where everything is closed for Christmas. Here we could go out on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and things were open. That was very shocking to me.

But do you remember walking up Fifth Avenue during Christmas? Yeah, I loved it. Because I know your first Thanksgiving was disappointing, I know. But did you at all think it was magical in New York? No, I did. I remember we walked up Fifth Avenue. I looked in all the windows, like Burgess Goodman and all that. I went to the park. I thought it was beautiful. Yeah.

I thought it was absolutely beautiful. It was kind of like a magic moment. But what really struck me was that, like, there were so, like, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, there were so many people out and things were open. And I was like, so when does these people have time off? Yeah. You know, people that work in shops and restaurants. Welcome to capitalism. That's actually what I thought. I was like, that's weird that all these poor people have to work. Yeah.

Well, there was a lot of things to do. Of course, the whole house needed to be cleaned from top to bottom. Yeah.

That took a few days. I'm still not over the fact that you waited until the 22nd to put up the tree. The 23rd to put up the tree. I mean, I think we did later years. We put it up much earlier. So it was actually part of the Christmas tradition of the night before Christmas, literally. Christmas Eve was the big day. So what they used to do in the olden days was that

The adults would go in and they would decorate the tree. Kids were waiting outside and...

And at a certain point, they would open the doors and then the kids could come in and like, oh my God, ooh. Yeah. Plus, they probably went and chopped down their own tree at some point. Yeah, totally. We would buy the tree very early because my mom was very picky. It had to be wide and full. Like, she wanted a lot of branches and a lot of, you know. Yeah, of course. So, we got the tree really early. We kept it outside in the snow. Oh, yeah. We would, of course, some years we would make ornaments. I remember we made these...

red felt hearts because my mom wanted like a hundred of them on the tree. Yeah. So me and my grandmother and great aunt, we made all those hearts stuffed with cotton and, you know, sold them back then. So there was a lot of things to do, you know, baking and getting all the food ready. Yeah, it was a busy time. Like December was always very busy. I love those, that ornament craft you do where you weave the paper. Yes. The basket. Yeah. Basket weaving. Mm-hmm.

Heart ornaments are really good. So if you need any ornament tips or Christmas tips, go to our website, sweetpaulmag.com. There's tons of craft ideas, recipes, you know, whatever. Yeah. Tons.

Okay, what else should she ask? Well, you touched on this stuff, but there aren't a whole lot of religious traditions. Well, it might be the only holiday where people do go to church. Yes, more or less. That's the year that... And I remember I went one year, and I can remember the priest kind of shaming us. Everyone that was there. Oh, my God. Yeah, he talked about, like, I wish this was, like, every Sunday. Oh, well, yeah. Christmas is good for business. Yeah.

Yeah, totally. But yeah, I come from a not religious family. So for us, it didn't mean... It was more like getting the sensation of Christmas. Yeah. I mean, there is something to... Was the church beautiful? The one we went to? No. No, it wasn't. It was kind of modern. Yeah. But not very... No.

There are, of course, amazing churches in Norway. And we have those churches that, you know, the Vikings built, which are like 1500 years old. It's so incredible. They're all made of wood. And when you walk in, the way...

The way they preserve the wood is using tar. So when you walk in, it smells like tar. It's kind of amazing. So cool. You didn't believe in Santa, but... I think I must have done when I was very small. You don't remember being excited by Santa? No, I was. When I was a little kid, yes, no, I was. I was definitely excited. And of course, yeah. And, you know, waking up Christmas Eve morning, it was like dragging for syrup to like...

Oh my God, the day just went so slow. Oh, so slow. Yeah. And of course, you know, if people wanted like seconds for dinner, I was like, oh my God, what is going on? Oh my God. And I coffee anyone. And I was like, what?

No coffee. We're going to have coffee after. My God, I love it. Yeah. Yeah, I was very excited for those presents. Yeah. And who was at your house? Your mom, your dad, your sister, your grandmother? My grandmother, my great aunt. And then every other year, my father's spouse.

parents would come. Sometimes my uncle and aunt, nieces. So sometimes we were like 15 people. And of course that was fun. And that was very fun with the gift thing because what we did was one person would take up a gift underneath a tree and say, okay, this is to blah, blah, blah from blah, blah, blah. So one at a time. Yeah. And then what we would do, especially in the later years when the gifts were kind of like dwindling, that we would

The person that got the gift would open it and show it to everyone. Oh, of course. Before we went on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's always how we do it. Because in the beginning we were just like, okay, this is to Paul from grandmother. And I would just put in my pile and just, you know, open. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So it's cuter when, you know, you open it up and you show it to everyone. Yeah. Yeah. And then you have to wait for your turn again. And then you have to wait for your turn. Yes. I love it. Yeah.

Yeah. So that's it for questions, right? I think so. Yeah. Now I'm in the spirit. Let's go get a treat. No, too early. We'll wait until next week. Do you want to build a snowman?

It's from Frozen. Oh, gosh. Yeah. Olaf. Olaf. Which, you know, is based in Norway. Yeah, isn't that funny? Yeah, I know. Oh, my gosh. The biggest animated film of all time is based in Norway. Based in Norway. Yes. I love it. So, now what's left is to say Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. May all your dreams come true this Christmas. And Happy Hanukkah. Happy Kwanzaa.

Kwanzaa. Ramadan. Happy Ramadan. Happy absolutely everything. Yes. Yes. We are going to take a little break now until January. Yes. You know, gather ourselves and... For 2020. For 2020. It's going to be an important year. And our Christmas wish is for all people...

To have a real, real life experience of the pursuit of joy, happiness, and freedom, and equality. Yes. That sounds really good. Love you guys. Love you. Happy holidays.