{"id":1335,"date":"2011-12-09T02:43:52","date_gmt":"2011-12-09T02:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/?p=1335"},"modified":"2014-08-22T18:10:45","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T18:10:45","slug":"christmas-in-tromso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/christmas-in-tromso\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas in Troms\u00f8"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Although I have not had the pleasure to spend Christmas in Troms\u00f8 (or any place in Norway), I can imagine what the island must feel like. \u00a0Even on nice summer nights, people would pack into the caf\u00e9s, bars, and restaurants. \u00a0It was always very cozy, whether it was a Tuesday evening or a Saturday night. \u00a0I think the people that are from northern Norway and especially those that still reside in the arctic, find it natural to be social and close to one another. \u00a0Because the winter is so long and dark, people are forced to either find ways to cope with this or be miserable. \u00a0Therefore, most make it a priority to see friends and family often to maintain lots of human contact.<\/p>\n

Folks around Troms\u00f8 start to get ready for Christmas in November where there are little markets that handicraft makers sell their goods at. \u00a0This is a good opportunity to get the holiday shopping started. \u00a0During the last weekend of November, the lights in the main square are lit. \u00a0The second weekend of November brings in a significant amount of inland folk. \u00a0Inhabitants expect lots of caroling, lefse making and coffee brewed outdoors.<\/p>\n

While Troms\u00f8 is not a large city, I very much enjoyed browsing the stores downtown. \u00a0There are very nice home d\u00e9cor stores, gift stores, sports and outdoor stores, and of course souvenir shops. \u00a0Popular Christmas gifts that visitors purchase in Troms\u00f8 to take home include luer<\/strong> (hats) and votter<\/strong> (mittens). \u00a0If you go this route, be sure to ask about the felted wool products-these are extra warm and often more durable than the wool most people are used to. \u00a0I have a pair of cream colored felted votter<\/strong> that used to be my bestemor<\/strong>\u00b4s (grandmother\u00b4s), which were passed down to my aunt, and then me. \u00a0I believe it was my great-grandmother who knit them, so they are really old, but still super warm and in great shape!<\/p>\n

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Other great gifts include unique jewelry, sweets such as lefse, and a very lovely gift would be a hand-made blown glass ornament from the world\u00b4s northernmost glass-blowing studio! \u00a0I still would love to make it to one of these…<\/p>\n

Why else might one want to go to Troms\u00f8 for Christmas you might ask? \u00a0Especially for those of us that already reside in a cold winter climate like MN?! \u00a0Several reasons:<\/p>\n

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-Aurora Borealis. The Northern Lights. \u00a0Winter is a great time to see the Northern Lights because there is little to no light at all for months during the winter in the arctic. \u00a0Therefore, the Northern Lights are that much more prominent against a dark sky.<\/p>\n

-You can go skiing, dog sledding, snow shoeing, etc. \u00a0Endless fun winter activities!<\/p>\n

And if you stick around until New Year\u00b4s, you will see a graceful end to Christmas and a very festive welcoming of the nytt \u00e5r<\/strong> (new year).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Although I have not had the pleasure to spend Christmas in Troms\u00f8 (or any place in Norway), I can imagine what the island must feel like. \u00a0Even on nice summer nights, people would pack into the caf\u00e9s, bars, and restaurants. \u00a0It was always very cozy, whether it was a Tuesday evening or a Saturday…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":1339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,7,913],"tags":[110880,110881],"class_list":["post-1335","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-holidays","category-traditions","tag-christmas-in-tromso","tag-jul-i-tromso"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1335"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1915,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions\/1915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}