5 X-MAS DO'S AND DON'TS FOR BEGINNER SCANDINAVIANS

DO

1. Decorate trees, spruces or large bushes with strings of white lights.
2. Embrace advent! The weeks leading up to Christmas is part of the celebration. 
3. Share your own native christmas traditions with others. 
4. Try to score an invitation to some form of local festivity, preferably a family christmas celebration.
5. Expect to see Santas wandering about town on Christmas Eve delivering gifts.

DON'T

1. Decorate the whole exterior of your house in multicoloured lamps. It's considered extremely tacky.
2. Expect stores to be open during the holiday. This is particularly true for Norway.
3. Mistake frowns and silence for lack of holiday cheer. It's cold and we want to get indoors, that's all. 
4. Believe that the celebrations you attend are the ultimate blueprint for ALL Scandinavian christmas celebrations. Some have a tendency to claim any and all traditions hail from the vikings. Not true. 
5. Go on and on about your discomfort with seeing Rudolph on a plate. We ate reindeer long before that silly song was invented. Get over it.