My mother's great grandmother and great grandfather came from Norway, so my own grandmother brought some of the Norwegian traditions into our lives.

We had Advent Calendars and Advent Wreaths to hold us in place until the end of December, but a lot of our celebrating had to wait.

We never put up the tree until Christmas Eve Day, and in fact, we kids (once we were old enough) always helped to decorate it. This was a long process of taking out ornaments and listening to Grandma or Mom tell us stories about where they came from, chosing just the right places on the tree, and then hurling tinsel all over the place to top it off. My poor oldest sister was very artistic, and she used to sneakily reposition most of the tinsel that we little kids had just flung.

Once the creche and the tree were set up, we'd all go to church for services. Lutheran churches usually have candlelight Christmas eve services very late, and by the time we were teenagers we were all in one choir or another, so some years we were at three or four services. By the time we finished at church, it was midnight or later, and we'd all go homeand then came the best part... The opening of the presents!

Yes, we figured that Santa Claus knew who the Norwegians were and just came while we were at church. Mom would put some carols on the stereo and we'd all sit around the living room while the youngest child who could read would act as delivery person and everyone would ooh and ahh over each of the presents.

Then to bed. Christmas Day we'd wake up (very late indeed!) to the smell of the Turkey cooking that Grandma had gotten up to put into the oven about 4 a.m. The big kids would help make all of the Christmas dinner fixings and the little kids would clean house for the arrival of the cousins and Aunts and Uncles. By one in the afternoon we were always wild with anticipation, and we were never disappointed by the meal, either.

Some years we went to the cousins' houses of course, but we'd take the turkey with us.

Christmas Day was always full of people talking and telling stories, sometimes singing, and showing off our new toys when we had them. But that was just the start of Christmas.

Our tree stayed up until January 6th for old Christmas, and all that time the house was full of carols and decorations and cookies and candles and warmth. My lucky little brother was born on January 5th, so he always got a little bit of Christmas with his presents.

Makes me feel all warm just thinking about it, actually. I hope you don't mind me reminiscing.