A French King?

We enjoyed yet another warm December day today with a gorgeous sunrise!  

After taking Coco for her long morning walk, I joined a couple of friends at the Royal Palace to watch the changing of the guard and to take a tour of the Treasury and the State Apartments.

We had two fantastic English-speaking tour guides who showed us the Royal regalia and taught us all sorts of interesting Swedish history!  Did you know, for instance, that in 1818, the newly crowned king Charles XIV John of Sweden and Charles III John of Norway, was actually a French marshal from Napoleon's army?  This non-blueblood, normal French man's family still reigns in Sweden!  Very interesting.  The Royal Palace in Stockholm is still the official residence for the royal family so it is a "working" palace. This means that depending on the day and the head of state activities, areas of the palace are or are not open to the public.  We had a limited tour today since various activities were occurring this week.  Still worth it!

I hurried home after our tour for my Swedish lessons...  Today, while learning a variety of Swedish words and grammar, I learned all about the common ways of celebrating Christmas in Sweden.  Christmas is always celebrated on the 24th.  The 25th consists of nothing, just resting and prepping for the next day when the after Christmas sales begin!  But, on the 24th, families gather for the Christmas ham and julbord, as well as exchanging gifts.  The whole country stops everything at 3 p.m. to watch old Donald Duck (Kalle Anka) short films!  This apparently started back in the late 60's when children's programming was scarce and has continued through today.  In fact, today's headline of the main newspaper in Stockholm, was something like, "Do I have to watch Donald Duck to be Swedish?" 

Here is an excerpt from an article explaining the importance of this tradition...

The show's cultural significance cannot be overstated.* You do not tape or DVR Kalle Anka for later viewing. You do not eat or prepare dinner while watching Kalle Anka. Age does not matter—every member of the family is expected to sit quietly together and watch a program that generations of Swedes have been watching for 50 years. Most families plan their entire Christmas around Kalle Anka, from the Smörgåsbord at lunch to the post-Kalle visit from Jultomten. "At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, you can't to do anything else, because Sweden is closed," Lena Kättström Höök, a curator at the Nordic Museum who manages the "Traditions" exhibit, told me. "So even if you don't want to watch it yourself, you can't call anyone else or do anything else, because no one will do it with you."

 After the cartoons and the meal is eaten, all dads disappear to buy the newspaper and suddenly Santa arrives at every home!  He then takes the time to hand out every gift to every person before disappearing again right before dad gets home from the store.