Advent Christmas Stars & Candles: Scandinavian and American Traditions

Last year I shared three posts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) about my immediate family's efforts to honor the heritage of both my Swedish roots and The Engineer's (quite firmly planted) American traditions. I think we make it work pretty well. Recently though, I was reminded of another difference in our cultures. Outside decorations, or should I say, decorations one can see from outside the house.

Let's start with us Americans. Frankly, I think we've gone off the deep end. I love Christmas lights, especially if they follow the outline of the entire house and DON'T BLINK. I like the new LED lights - they twinkle so gently. I certainly appreciate the folks who rent a cherry picker, and string lights, thousands of lights, all over their trees.

I don't like plastic figurines. And the worst off all? The inflatables. The SPINNING inflatables. Why? To me they are just ridiculously overboard. To view these good and bad decorations, our family traditionally gets some fast food, puts on some Christmas music, and spends an evening driving around looking for nice light displays. It's festive, cozy, and a nice time. (I secretly pretend I have a BB gun and shoot the inflatables.)

Swedes on the other hand, at least as far as I can remember (and I checked with The Swede who concurred) don't really decorate the OUTSIDE of their houses. They concentrate on the inside and how those decorations appear from the outside. The idea is to create a cozy, welcoming atmosphere that beckons visitor to come in.

That cozy effect is most often invoked now with in modern times with  electric candle stands, shaped in an inverted V in the windows. (I searched for non-copyrighted pictures and couldn't find any...and my parents don't have theirs up this year...so use your imagination). A lot of families also put single candles (again, now electric) in every window. I remember vividly flying home for Christmas (pre-marriage and family) and as we pulled into my parents' cul-de-sac, there were the lights, the figurines, and then at our house, a single candle in every window. Made me a bit misty for my homeland.

Another traditional Scandinavian (as in not just Swedish, but Norwegian and Danish, too)window decoration that beckons visitors is the Advent Star. These are found in many variations all over Scandinavia. This particular star is from my Farmor's home (father's mother). 

photo by my Dad

 It's now hanging in the window at my parents house, here in Colorado. It's made from gently shaved wood, delicately woven into this heirloom. Many Swedes implement some variation of this star. They are as varied as snowflakes, and when I see one, I want to go inside, sip some coffee, and catch up with friends.

What are some of your traditions?  Do you have a defense for the necessity of inflatable decorations?

P.S My friend actually MADE stars like this one from vintage paper.  She's like a crafting super hero or something.  Directions, pictures, nice tutorial all found at her very popular blog, House Revivals.  Go check it out and at least say hi!