Santa is from Norway - Drøbak to be specific

Yep, that's right.  Apparently Santa Claus, known as Julenissen here, is Norwegian :-) Apparently local officials decided in 1989 that Santa was born in Drøbak.  The local post office has the name and image of Julenissen on their postmark year-round and the city has little "Santa crossing" signs around the area.  Of course there are replicas of these signs available for purchase ;-) Here's a link with a little more info about the official declaration of Julenissen's origins:
http://www.norway.org/ARCHIVE/News/archive/1995/199510santa/

So of course with the Christmas season upon us and Santa's home so nearby, last week some of the wives from Ty's office and I decided we should all check out his hometown together.  It was about an hour-long bus trip and was an absolutely gorgeous drive with the snow-covered vista.  Remember, the entire country has a population smaller than the Houston metro area, so the drive was primarily through undeveloped land and rural areas and the untouched nature was simply breath-taking.  Here's a few of the better pictures from the drive down:

  

  

  

 

The town of Drøbak was very quaint and quite fun to wander around for the afternoon.  The first stop, of course, was the Julehuset - The Christmas House.  SO many ornaments and decorations!  I think the trip was more interesting because one of the other wive's mother, who is from Denmark, was with us and helped explain some of the holiday cultural differences.  Here's a few of them:

• Julenissen is not a big, jolly man like we picture him.  Their version is more like a gnome or elf.  Smaller, but still rewarding good girls and boys with presents.  Julenissen literally translates to "Christmas Elf" - Jul = Christmas; nissen = elf.
• Toadstools are supposed to be a symbol of good luck in the upcoming year, so there are often red and white toadstool ornaments or decorations for sale.  Pigs are also supposed to be a sign of good luck.
• Instead of milk and cookies, children leave out a sweet rice pudding for Julenissen.  We saw some cute decorations that featured Santa with a big bowl of pudding and a spoon in his lap.  I found a recipe online and am hoping to try it out, maybe while we're in Lillehammer.  This is a treat for the family as well and the tradition is that you hide a whole almond in the rice pudding and whoever finds it in their bowl gets a prize, often a marzipan pig.  Remember, pigs are supposed to bring good luck!
• Christmas trees here tend to be decorated in a much more simple fashion.  Most have white lights, especially those made to look like little candles clipped to the tree, with some ornaments and tinsel.  The larger trees throughout the city at the major landmarks are simply decorated with strands of large white lights.  At first it was a little disappointing after seeing what our National Tree normally looks like.  But I've started to really appreciate the simplicity of the decor and not feeling the need to spend five- or six-figures decorating the larger trees.
• The red heart is the symbol of Christmas.  Strange to get used to at first since most of us associate that with Valentine's day in the States, but there are red hearts everywhere and it's pretty cute.  Not sure if there is any meaning or significance behind the heart though.

So we walked around the little Christmas House (Julehuset) and there were SO many cute decorations and ornaments!  I bought two reindeer, a porcelain toadstool (for good luck!), a mini Norwegian flag, a little white ball with a map of Norway on one side and the flag on the other, and a heart (for our Christmas here in country) - all ornaments for our tree.  I also found a cute little Santa figure that looks like their smaller elf version.  All you see is his little nose and his hair peeking out under his red hat.  I'll add a picture later!

We walked around town, found a lovely church that was built in 1776; got some fabulous pictures!  We also found a tailor that specializes in traditional Norwegian garb from the different regions across the country.  It was fun to walk through the store looking at all of the ornate details on the different garments.

We stopped at a little cafe, had a late lunch, and enjoyed the relaxing bus ride home.  Fun day with the ladies!

More pictures from Drøbak - the scenery and the tailor shop: