Putting Out the Porridge

We put milk and cookies out for Santa, but in Norway, they put rice pudding out for the mischievous gnomes called nisse (niss-uh). These cute little creatures live with each family, and if you're not good to them, they can cause a world of trouble. And, even if you move, your nisse will follow you, so you have work at having a good relationship with them since they're part of the family.

The nisse expect their traditional rice pudding with sugar and cinnamon on the 24th when Norwegians have their big Christmas dinner and presents . Kids make gingerbread houses and the colorful paper hearts that hang on the tree are little baskets filled with treats. A big dinner of roasted pork, along with traditional foods like the dried lamb and salted fish we tried at the Christmas market, are also on hand.

Norway, like many other countries, also claims to be the birthplace of Santa Claus. A small town south of Oslo called Droback even has a special postmark to commemorate the famous old elf, although the Norwegian Santa looks more like Professor Dumbledore from the Harry Potter movies than the jolly, Coca-Cola version we have here in the U.S.