New Choc Lit author, Christina Courtenay, talks of her Scandinavian celebrations...

God Jul!
24th December is the day Christmas is celebrated in Scandinavia, so ”God Jul” or good yuletide to you all! (The “jul” is pronounced just like the English word Yule.)

Christmas trees are as individual as their owners (here is a photo of ours for this year), and ours is usually dressed all in red and silver, with the odd splash of gold. Not sure why, but over the years those are the colours I always seem to buy. And like Jan, I buy at least one new bauble every year – they’re just so beautiful, how can anyone resist?

For me, although I know it’s not good for the planet, it has to be a real tree, simply because of the wonderful scent. There’s nothing like coming down on Christmas morning and being met by the fragrance of fir or spruce. To make up for this non-PC behaviour, I plant a small Christmas tree in our garden every year after the holidays. Here’s a photo of this year’s lucky “little one” (Isn’t it adorable? Not even a foot high!)

Also like Jan Jones (here) I’m sure most people have Christmas tree decorations that are special because of the memories associated with them. For me, it’s five miniature Japanese fans that remind me of some exotic Christmases in Tokyo many years ago. We somehow managed to combine both English and Swedish traditions with Japanese ones, which was great fun!
Happy Christmas!
Christina

http://christinacourtenay.wordpress.com/