Na15A Christmas Edition
The start of a tradition To give each other gifts at Christmas is a must-to-do tradition for bigger parts of the western world. But, why do we give presents and how did it all start. 2000 years ago, Jesus was given gifts from the three wise men, and originally it’s the birth of Jesus we celebrate at Christmas. Actually, gift-giving traditions are older than this and were practiced already in the Roman Empire at Saturnalia. This tradition would take place at late December, and you would typically give toys to children. Some people say that 25th of December isn’t the actual date of Jesus’s birth but an easy date to have since the people were used to celebrate at this time of the year. Nowadays Santa Claus is as connected with Christmas as anything, at least in the English-speaking countries. In Sweden there is a similar figure who comes with presents, but before many people believed in small creatures that would live at the farm. We still have the tradition of offering porridge to Santa that originates from the time with the small “tomtar”.
This is what a typical Swedish “tomte” looked like a hundred years ago
Almost every country that celebrates Christmas has some kind of made up character like Santa Claus, and often this character brings the presents. You might think that the red color is mandatory for a Santa Claus, but in Russia for example he is called Father Frost and looks like this:
Did you know that father frost is meant to be the winter cold personified?
Gift of the year now and then Since the start of the present giving tradition there has been a lot of crazy ideas about what to give your friends and family. But what has been the most popular? There are in fact presents that have been bought more than other in gifts in certain years and in some cases been predicted to be the next big thing. Products that basically every other house gets from Santa. Well some might wonder what the winning gift depends on, is it technology? Is it the price? Or is it some trend that goes away as quick as it came? Hui.se have since 1988 chosen a gift every year and based on information from the site (http://www.hui.se/arets-julklapp) you cannot come to a conclusion on what the gift of the year usually is. Because it varies from year to year. It can be anything from a woolly hat to flat screen TV.I am going to find out what the gift of the year depends or depended on throughout the years. Well I might as well start from the beginning. The year was 1988 when the baking machine was predicted to be the next big thing. You could make your own homemade bread instead of buying it of the shelf without having to invest an hour or two and risk your good mood. But as Christmas Eve drew closer came the surprise. The gift of the year didn’t become the big hit as thought. As a matter of fact most stores bought in more than they could sell which led to them having to put most of it on sale. A proof that experts do not always have right. Actually I have to contradict my previous statement. Many of the gifts have a something in common. Eighteen out of twenty-eight presents have to do with electronics or some sort of technology. But the similarities end there. Electronics can be as simple as a couple of headphones which was the gift in 2012 or a bit more complicated as last year’s big gift, the robotic vacuum cleaner. Beneath you can see all the “Present” of the year” from 1988 to 2015 and if you want to see this year’s gift you better keep reading. 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
The Bread Maker The Video Camera The Wok Pan The CD Player Video game Console Perfume The Mobile Phone CD disc Internet access The electronic pet A video game Book The DVD Player
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Cook book Cap LCD TV Poker kit Audio book The GPS Receiver Experience The Bed of Nails The tablet Pre-packed bag of groceries Headphones The Juice Extractor The Fitness Band
2001
Tools
2015
The Robotic Vacuum Cleaner
Some of the gifts remain their high status year after year, or became a part of our everyday life whilst others go as quick as they came. You might wonder why and what. Well some trends changed our lives to the better, others seemed more important than they really were. Classics like a Cap, a book or some perfume never go out of style or use while more edgy or futuristic creations are more likely to be forgotten. Well the things that became regular was internet connection, The LCD TV and even the GPS receiver even though it’s now available in most smartphones . Will this year’s present remain or disappear immediately?
The present of 2016: The VR (Virtual Reality) glasses For this year the Swedish institution of trade choose the VR glasses as the gift of the year, and the explanation was that the product is innovative and combines two of the strongest trends in our society, digitalization and adventure. The VR’s are not completely new innovations, but it is in this year they’ve become popular. They come in different shapes and with different price tags.
Google’s VR’s for cellphones
Playstation’s VR’s
But is it correct, do the big mass really want this science fictional technology? . People’s requests and consumptions statistics have shown that these virtual googles are on fire. But me and my friends have been really curious about the results, and therefore decided to take matters in our own hands. We went to “Stora Torget” in Karlstad and randomly asked people passing by what their perfect Christmas gift would be. It couldn’t be to abstract because the answer then would always be “World peace”, we hope. But after a day’s work, we got some outstanding results. Approximately 100 people were interviewed and the results were actually surprising. We thought that at least 40 % would want to acquire VR glasses but the
results showed that it wasn’t even above 15%. The majority said that they wanted clothes and another pretty big group desired video games. The delimitation wasn’t that enormous which is a big source of error, but at least the VR people shouldn’t be a minority. Especially after HUI’s announcement. What does this say about the people we interviewed? To me it looks like they don’t see the value in these so called virtual glasses when the price mark is above 500 Euros. Or that these VR’s aren’t any match to already existing consoles or games. But my theory is that now, when the winter is coming and it becomes freezing cold outside, warm clothes as jackets and sweaters are a bigger priority. People would rather be warm and comfortable than have virtual glasses. But as I said before, the delimitation of this research is very small compered HUI’s and therefore shouldn’t be fully trusted or applied to the whole population of Sweden. It1 was just an interesting idea to see what the people of Karlstad wish for Christmas.
By Karl Mattis Possul, Anton Brunström and Fedja Drndo
Boxing Day Football Tradition In England
Soccer on Boxing Day is a long-held English tradition whereby league matches are played on December 26th. Boxing Day gets its name from an old custom where the rich gave boxes of gifts to the poor. When the fixtures are released in the summer, fans are eager to see who their side are playing, as it is often an occasion when the entire family go to a match. In most countries, there is a winter break of at least a week (Germany have six), but in England matches are played throughout the festive period. Why is soccer played on Boxing Day In England? Having 10 games all in one day at a time when most of the other leagues across the globe are shut down means that the eyes of the world are on the Premier League. This means extra revenue for advertisers and undoubtedly strengthens the hand of the Premier League when it comes to negotiating TV rights deals. What prompted the tradition? The romantics believe that the boxing day soccer tradition in England came about as a result of English and German soldiers downing their weapons during World War I in 1914 and playing a friendly game of soccer. It seems that a kickabout did take place in Belgium, but weather it was a full-scale match or a few men knocking a ball about is open to debate. Boxing day is therefore a special day in English football because even in the heat of war, enemies come together and play ball. Although it is not supported by everyone, some managers are complaining because the players do not get the rest that the players of other leagues do and therefore they suffer from fatigue and get exhausted by the end of the season (the same time as the final stages of European cups) and cannot perform as good as they would like to. I think a solution could be that every league takes a part of the tradition and gets a break later on in the season. Because it’s a wonderful thing that brings everyone together. Mikael HÜgberg
Marcus Olsson NA15A
Christmas Movies
Christmas is a perfect time to gather your family and see a movie together, there are many different genre to pick from, you might like comedy, action or romance, There is a movie for every situation and person. But sense Christmas is a Cristian holiday I think it´s a perfect time to see Hacksaw ridge, it´s a movie based on real events during the Second World War and the American invasion of Japans many islands. We follow a man by the name Desmond Doss, a man with strong beliefs and the urge to fight for his country. Desmond´s father is a First World War veteran who has been drinking obsessively after losing his friends during the war and is strongly against Desmond assigning to the military. Following God’s amendments is an absolute necessity for the Doss family. So going to war not wanting to kill another man is a difficult thing to do, whereas war is kind of based of killing one another, but Desmond wants to become a medic so when the world blows to pieces it might not be a too bad thing to altheas put some of it back together again. He is seen as a coward and is being miss treated during training by the other´s because of him refusing to touch a gun. Have some one ever been so wrong, Desmond Doss single handedly saved 75 men´s life’s in the battlefield whiteout touching a gun, and was later awarded the medal of honor rightfully so. The movie portrays the brutality and sureness that comes with war and a man’s strong beliefs. Hacksaw ridge is in my opinion the best movie of the year and will go down beside movies like saving privet Ryan.
Chauncey Minnick’s night of realization. It is on a great December day, just hours before Christmas that little Chauncey Minnick gets a handful of snow shoved into his face. “Santa isn’t real, loser”, 8 year old Ryan Anderson says, reloading his fist with more snow. You see, Ryan Anderson does not believe in Santa Claus, and therefore, no one else can either. As he delivers yet another fist of snow into Chauncey’s face, an old man shouts from the other side of the park. “You brats better get off of him!” his voice rumbles and his beard vibrates. Ryan and his posse, who were surrounding the two boys, quickly scatters. Little Chauncey Minnick is left lying there, alone in the snow. He lays there, still for a moment, staring up into the sky. He thinks about what Ryan had said, that Chauncey is a little baby for still believing in Santa. Santa doesn’t exist, is that really true? If so, who has been eating the cookies and drinking all the milk that he has put out over the years? Little Chauncey decides that it is time to get up and get over it. As he rises from the snow covered ground he is met by two brown eyes and a big white beard. “Santa?” little Chauncey asks. The man laughs. “No son, I’m no Santa. You better get going before it gets dark outside, little boys shouldn’t wander alone”. Later that evening, at the Minnick family’s dinner, Chauncey’s mother, Christina, and his father Joseph are engaged in a rather calm conversation revolving around today’s climate crisis. Chauncey, who looks a bit brought down, picks his food, swirling his fork around the plate. ”What’s wrong sweetie?” the voice of a sweet mother asks her son. “Aren’t you afraid Santa won’t come when you’re being all grumpy?” This angers Chauncey who stomps away from the kitchen table, turns around in the doorway and states “Santa isn’t real,” and then slowly carries his heavy footsteps up the stairs. Throwing himself in his bed he lets out a loud sigh, mumbling quietly under his breath. As he lays there in the bed his mind and thoughts fly away into the night, while little Chauncey Minnick slowly swivels into deep sleep. A Loud thud is heard from his bedroom window and quickly awakens little Chauncey from his deep slumber. He sits up, rubs his eyes and yawns a tiny little yawn. He stumbles over to the window and peers out. A small sweet face is sited before his eyes. He rubs his eyes once again in disbelief, only for the small creature to still be stood before him. He opens the window and the childlike figure climbs into his room. “Who are you?” Chauncey asks. “I am one of Santa’s elves”. Chauncey couldn’t believe his own eyes. He pinches his arm to make sure that he is awake. He quickly realizes that he is, in fact, completely awake. “I have been told that a Chauncey Minnick has lost all faith and belief in Santa, is this true?” Little Chauncey shakes, afraid that he will anger the elf. “Y-y-yes, I guess”, poor little Chauncey stutters. “Well then, pack up your necessities, child” the elf said. “Where are we going?” “To restore your faith, silly!” Chauncey threw on a black fleece-sweater and a green jacket along with a black hat. The elf led Chauncey from his bedroom window all the way up to the top of his house. Before his eyes lies a big, beautiful sleigh. Several bells and rhinestones shimmered and the inside was filled with soft blankets. Never in his life had Chauncey seen something so beautiful. Everything that Ryan Anderson had said now seemed as complete and utter nonsense. However, he needed to see more, this could after all still just be a dream. As the pair takes their seats, anticipation is filling the child’s body. He wants to ask more questions, but doesn’t bother, not wanting to disturb the elf. He simply just sits there quietly, minding his own business. As they fly into the night Chauncey admires the sight. The many stars on the sky contrasting the dark sky. What seems like several hours later, Chauncey finally sees what he has been waiting for all night; a red and white pole, with the letters N O R T H spelled out on the top. The North Pole. At this point, Chauncey cannot keep his mouth shut. “Am I going to meet Santa now?” his innocent voice speaks up. The elf, whose name he learnt was Rob, pats his shoulder and chuckles “No, not yet, first, we’re going to pay a visit to Mrs. Claus. Then, we are going to visit the elves down at the shop, and then you may see Santa.”
The first stop before finally meeting Santa Claus, was his own home. After knocking on the door they are met by a kind old face. Mrs. Claus. The little cottage smelt of cinnamon and apples, delightful. She offered both cookies and hot chocolate, which Chauncey gladly accepted. The three of them sat at a big wooden table, munching on the treats, small talking a bit. Little Chauncey, who was so curious asked every single question he had about the North Pole. After a while, it was time for Chauncey and Rob to move along. They said their goodbyes to Mrs. Claus and headed for the next stop. The toy shop. Every child’s paradise. Said toy shop was indeed paradise. The walls were decorated with shelves. Each and every single one of them displayed several toys. Shiny new toys. There were long tables spread across the big workshop. About a hundred elves worked there, putting together toys, painting them and wrapping them. When ready to be delivered, they were thrown into the back of Santa’s big sleigh. Chauncey stood there and watched them in awe. It’s actually real. There was no doubt in his mind that Santa Claus was real, and soon, it was time to meet him. After showing Chauncey around the workshop, Rob took his hand and prepared him for the sight he has been waiting for all night. They walked outside for a while, and nearly 500 meters later, they are stood in front of a big wooden door. Rob raises his hand to knock, but slowly draws it back. “You do the honors.” Suddenly a loud noise is heard and Chauncey jumps. He looks around, takes in his surroundings and realizes that he is in his bedroom, tucked into his bed. Stumbling out of bed, he rubs his eyes and puts on his robe and slippers. He looks at the clock on his wall. 3.59 A.M. Perhaps it’s Santa handing out gifts and munching on the newly baked cookies. Chauncey was so tired when he came back from the adventures of the night that he just dozed off in the sleigh ride back, figuring Rob must have put him to sleep. Walking down the stairs, he thinks of all the great memories from the trip. All the elves, the reindeers, the delicious cookies at Mrs. Claus’ table. Everything was just perfect. When he reaches the last step he tip toes slowly towards the living room. He peers out from behind the doorframe. And there he was, with cookie crumbles in his beard and a look of fear in his eyes; he had been caught in action. Chauncey Minnick’s father.
By: Tiffany Orbay & Theo Jendle
A Christmas Story
Christmas Eve, 24th December and everyone’s at home celebrating the holiday with their families. 15 year old Mary follows her parents to the car to say goodbye to them, because they have a night shift at the hospital. When they drive away, Mary is about to go inside and watch TV, when she hears the sound of her siblings arguing about something. Therefore she decides to see what’s going on, and when she opens the door to her siblings’ room she notices that her younger brother sits on the bed looking irritated. In front of him stands the youngest child of the family- Lily, who looks angry and disappointed. “I truly believe” she says firmly “that Santa exists and I am going to prove that!” Mary walks into the room and hugs her little sister. “I’m sure he does exist, it doesn’t matter what other people believe in and your faith is what matters right now”. Lily looks up to her sister with eyes full of tears and says: “No you’re not, you never join us when we are baking Christmas cookies to Santa and you aren’t even excited when it comes to Christmas presents. If only you could help me prove that Santa Clause is real. Please?” “Fine Lily, I’ll help you” suddenly she looks up to her sister and smiles “but in one condition and that is when Santa comes by and goes away, you’re going to bed and sleep”. “Of course I’ll do that, I can’t wait to finally meet him” says Lily and goes down to the kitchen. “Aren’t you coming down too? If Santa is coming, we need to prepare some Christmas cookies for him so he’ll think good of us and come back next year”. “On our way” Mary shouts and turns to her younger brother Magnus. “Are you going to join us?” “Why not? I don’t want to miss the yummiest part of this day” Magnus says and jumps out of the bed and walks to the kitchen with Mary. In front of the desk in the middle of the kitchen, Lily stands on a stool wearing her mother’s apron. Mary walks up to Lily and helps her opening the jar that is filled with chocolate chips. Magnus also joins them and they decide to bake chocolate chip cookies and later serve them with some milk. Mary brings her phone to the kitchen and puts some Christmas songs on. First up is Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. They dance and bake at the same time. One hour later they are done baking and its 11:35. They prepare a plate and lay the cookies beautifully on it. Lily pours milk in a glass and they bring the treats to the table in the living room. “There’s still time left to waste, what should we do?” asks Lily, while gazing at the windows. “Actually I think that we can play a game, hmm,” Says Magnus and thinks deeply. “What about hide and seek?” Lily answers right away. “Yeah, that would be great, but who wants to count?” “I can do that, I’ll count, but only until 20 seconds” Lily says and covers her eyes, “One, two, three…eighteen and nineteen! I’m coming now!” she shouts and walks up the stairs. She hears some movement from down the stairs and thinks that Magnus is on the first floor. She goes down the main floor but doesn’t find anyone anywhere. “Guys this isn’t funny anymore, I know that you change your hiding places and that is cheating. Whoever is on the first floor, please come out!” “No one is there, we’re on the second floor” Magnus calls out. Then there are more sounds. Now it is more clearly and coming from the chimney. Mary thinks that there might be a cat from the neighborhood which is stuck inside the chimney and can’t get out of there. She slowly walks forward and when she looks inside the chimney, she can’t believe her eyes. An old man wearing a red costume tries to get down the chimney. She can’t see his face due to the darkness, but she’s quite sure it’s Santa so she runs up the stairs and calls out for Magnus and Lily. “Lily, Magnus, you got to see this, I think that Santa is here in the chimney. Come on, you need to see him. I’m pretty sure that’s him, no other old man would wear red clothes and climb in other’s chimneys”. They walk immediately to the living room and stop in front of the chimney.
They checked but there was nobody there. “I could have sworn I saw something” said Mary. “Me too” answered Magnus. While the children were looking at the chimney they heard a sound from the living room. It was the sound of someone eating and drinking. Bolting to the living room to see what or who made the sound in hope to maybe see Santa, but it was nobody nor nothing there. In annoyance Magnus burst out “Come on, it was definitely the sound of someone having a snack, but there’s nobody here” “But look the cookies and milk is gone” said Lily while point at the empty plate and glass. The kids exchanged glances, how could it be gone when nobody was there? Before they had time to think that over they heard a sound from upstairs, it sounded like someone laughing “ho ho ho”. “Santa” the three children yelled out at the same time and ran up the stairs. But, once again, nothing. “Seriously? Maybe we just want to see Santa so badly that we are imagining things” said Magnus with disappointment in his voice. “Yeah maybe, but that doesn’t explain why the cookies and milk are gone” said Lily back, holding on to hope. She so badly wanted to meet Santa. So did her two older siblings but they were too afraid to believe it like she did because they didn’t want to be fooled. After a while Magnus said “Maybe there is a robber in the house?” “No, what robber would stop to eat cookies and drink milk” answered Mary. “You’re probably right, but...” Magnus was interrupted mid-sentence by Lily shouting “Look, look at the window in the sky, it is Santa” Magnus and Mary looked out the window, up in the sky, and they almost couldn’t believe their eyes. In the sky, they saw nine flying reindeer, one with a bright red nose, pulling a sled with a man in red in it that was laughing “ho ho ho”. “It’s Santa, it’s Santa with his reindeer, the one with the red nose, that’s Rudolf” said Lily while laughing and jumping up and down in excitement. “If that was Santa, you know what that means?” said Magnus. “Presents!” shouted Lily and Mary. The three kids ran to their Christmas tree and under it were beautiful presents, all in the colors of Christmas, red, white and green. “I knew it! I knew it! But I didn’t get to meet him” Lily said with a pout. “I don’t think you are supposed to. It makes the magic disappear I think. Come on lets go to bed” said Mary while taking her younger siblings to the couch in the living room were the all fell asleep together.
THE END
By: Diana & Carolina
Christmas with Ernst Kirchsteiger Have you ever thought that your Christmas is boring and too time-consuming and you get filled with regret every time you hear “All I want for Christmas� ringing in your ears? Well here are two spectacular recipes from our own Swedish hero, Ernst Kirchsteiger. Recipes that will spice up your Christmas. Mozart-Kugelns Tired of those tasteless Mozart-Kugelns you fail to make yourself every year. Don’t worry, Ernst has a cleaver tip for you. Add cognac for a stronger and more daring taste. Here is what you have to do: Gather the ingredients. You will need: 500g almond icing, 4 tablespoons cognac, 150g nougat, 150g dark chocolate, 100g white chocolate and icing sugar. You have all those ingredients? Then you are good to go. Follow these steps! Step 1: Break down the almond icing and add cognac, then work down the cognac into the almond icing. Step 2: Cut the nougat into cubes of 1x1 cm. Step 3: Melt the dark chocolate over a water bath or in a microwave. Step 4: At the same time roll a ball of the almond icing as big as a Swedish 5-crown, push down your thumb and make a pit. Place the nougat in the pit and roll in the ball. Use icing sugar as flour if the almond icing sticks too much on your fingers. Step 5: Dip the ball in the melted chocolate with help of two spoons, then place the chocolate-rolled ball in a baking tin. Step 6: Now melt the white chocolate over a water bath or microwave. Step 7: Use a piping bag and fill it with the melted white chocolate. Make some nice patterns on the chocolate balls. Step 8: Let them freeze in fridge for some hours until the chocolate have hardened. Step 9: Enjoy!
Swedish meatballs A fine bowl with delicious meatballs is essential on the Christmas-table as usual. It is a Swedish tradition. But did the meatballs actually origin from Sweden? No, in fact the history of meatballs stretches back to the Qin Dynasty 221 BC to 207 BC. Later some of the earlier Arabic cookbooks included recipes of the meatballs. They only came to Sweden after Karl the 12th’s return from his exile in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century, and they only started becoming popular during the 20th century. Since then it has always been one the most important dishes on the Swedish Christmastable. Unfortunately it’s a dish that requires a lot of time. But you are lucky! Ernst Kirchsteiger has his own way to shorten the process, and he wants to share his knowledge with you. This is what he says to you: use frozen meatballs bought at the supermarket and spice them up to get that extraordinary Christmas-taste. Ingredients: 1 packet of frozen meatballs, cinnamon, allspice, thyme twigs, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 1 pinch brown sugar and butter to the frying. Follow these steps: Step 1: Fry the meatballs in butter. Step 2: Add cinnamon and allspice after your own choice so the spices has time to get fried in the butter. Step 3: Lay the thyme twigs in the frying pan so they share their taste. Step 4: Salt and pour the balsamic vinegar in the frying pan. Step 5: At last add the brown sugar.
Christmas can truly be a wonderful time, but it can also be stressful and highly time-consuming. Therefore it is very important that you can relax and have a nice time with family and friends along with some good food. With these recipes Ernst Kirchsteiger wishes you a Merry Christmas!
Getting Ready for Christmas
This sofisticated look can be done with either a curlingiron or a straightener. But remember that the size of the curls depends on how big the curlingiron or straightener is.
Do the ”Soft romantic curls” and then follow these easy steps. 1.
3. Divide the little pony tail that you have created into two parts. 4.
Twist each part, so that it looks like a bow.
5.
Pin it up with bobby pins.
6.
Finish it all with lots of hairspray.
Section the upper part of the hair.
2. Tie it up with a tiny elastic, preferably in the same colour as your hair.
1. Start off with a pinch of dry shampoo for the right structure.
2. Continue with the braid from the top of the head, but do not start too far up on the head.
3. Depart the hair into three pieces and start braiding. Instead of braiding the parts over each other, place them behind. This will make the braid look like a dutch braid, just like Elsas.
4. For a fuller look you can loosen 5. Finish off with some hairspray and apply a the braid. bow for a christmas touch. 1. Divide the hair 2. Twist the part into five parts. Two in the back to a in the front of each knot of hair. side and one in the back. 3. Pin it up with loads of bobby pins.
4. Take one front part from each side and swirl it around the knot, in a sofisticated way.
5. Now take the two parts that are left and twist them backwards aorund the bun. Again, use lots of bobby pins. By: Amanda Hansen and Rebecca Gabrielsson
From All of Us to All of You, a Swedish Christmas tradition.
Christmas is a holiday celebrated in many places all around the world, and Christmas is celebrated in different ways depending on where you are, who you are with and what you like. But in Sweden it’s all the same no matter who you are, in Sweden Christmas means Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and all of their friends in the hour long program “From all of us to all of you” which is played every Christmas eve. Each year the program is seen by about 3 million people in Sweden which is about 33% of the Swedish population, needless to say, it’s a popular program in Sweden. Ever since 1994 the program has as worst achieved to be nominated as the 5th most seen program in Sweden, and has 6 times been nominated as the most watched program since then. Back in 2002 as the classic host of the program Arne Weise retired from the role, SVT, the Swedish television company which is hosting the program, decided to stop sending the program, a decision which caused public outrage and SVT had to arrange a new deal with The Walt Disney Company and keep sending the program. A recent controversial topic in Sweden is the editing of the program, the people responsible for the broadcast has cut out parts containing satire and stereotypical examples of people and other inappropriate parts for example in Mickey’s Trailer where Goofy turns corn into popcorn by accidentally putting his fork in an electrical outlet. There are several more examples of cutting, and these cuts have caused different reactions from people, some like the changes but some people consider the changes to be unnecessary and want the show to go back as it used to be. Some people think that this is a sign that Sweden has gone too far when it comes to changing things to make them not appear racist, they say that it’s a kid’s show and that the kids would not understand the references. I personally think that the discussion has gone too far and I think we all should just watch and enjoy the show as it is and not let any potential changes to it disrupt the magical Christmas spirit. By: Karl Linder
Gold, frankincense and myrrh About 2000 years ago something special happened. A little boy was born and with his birth a whole new belief was born as well. This belief grew to be one of earth´s greatest religions, Christianity. So to show gratitude to Christianity’s little founder boy, we have decided to celebrate his birthday. Every 24 of December the world celebrates his birth with a day that has become more known as Christmas. This day has the power to make people be kind to each and other, share our meals and even give a gift to someone we love. Being kind and sharing our food could never possibly be seen as something negative, but the gift part unfortunately can.
The reason to why we give each other gifts on Christmas is quite a story. The night the little founder boy, whose name is Jesus was born some unknown astrologers gave Jesus three gifts. You might recognize the astrologers more as the three magi. These gifts, that consisted of gold, frankincense and myrrh where given to Jesus to give him luck, happiness and to show their appreciation to him. So I think we should give each other Christmas gifts because of the same reasons.
Unfortunately these reasons to give each other a gift has gone lost. Somehow has the beautiful act to give a special person something meaningful turned into an expensive must. When December comes around the door and all you can see in the papers, on your mobile and in the stores is advertising reminding you that you have to buy gifts, people immediately become stressed, get anxiety and start counting money from
We all love the feeling we get when we make somebody we likes happy, and maybe love the feeling we get when somebody else makes us happy even more. This is the absolute reason to why we should give each other a gift on Christmas day.
their savings. This is not how people should feel on the most wonderful time of the year, but still millions of people do.
The stores all over the world take advantages of people’s desperate need of buying gifts to all of their friends and families only to make a fortune out of it. For the poor Christmas becomes the worst time of the year, only because they can’t afford these gifts that have become the center of Christmas and therefor feels like they are some kind of failures. For the children who don’t need to worry about buying gifts you might think the gifts only come with good consequences, and so do I. The negative parts come for the children who do not get any gifts and those children are way too many.
This is not how it was meant to be. Close your eyes and stop up for a minute to figure out for yourself why and what you really would like to give somebody you like, not just buy what the advertising tells you to buy. Don’t spend the money you don’t have, a gift does not have to cost a fortune and it does not have to be a thing. A gift could be anything, just remember that it is the thought that really matters. Maybe you don’t need to buy your child hundreds of meaningless gifts, if you have the money why don’t you perhaps give one or two of them to the child who gets none. That would bring back the meaning in the act and make the world a little more beautiful place to live in.
Rebecka Ljungqvist 2016-12-12
Gingerbread dough:
6 cups flour ½ teaspoon baking powder 4 teaspoons ground ginger 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon allspice ½ teaspoon salt 12 teaspoons butter (room temperature) 1 ½ cups light brown sugar 1 tablespoon water ½ teaspoon ground cloves 1 cup dark molasses 1 tablespoon baking soda
Icing:
3- 4 cups of powdered sugar 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon almond extract
Gingerbread dough:
Pour sugar, molasses and water in a pot. Heat up the mixture and remove the pot from the stove. Cream the butter and place it in a large mixing bowl together with the spices. Add the hot sugarmixture and stir until the butter has melted. Leave until the temperature has reached room temperature. Blend flour and baking soda. Stir into the batter, which will be quite loose (eventually it will expand). Work the dough together with a wooden fork or knead until firm and manageable, but not dry.. Let it rest in refrigerator covered or placed in a plastic bag for 1-2 days before baking out. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Roll out the dough little by little- it gets easier that way. Flour the table lightly. Cut into desired shapes. Bake for 4-6 minutes depending on the size of the pieces. The gingerbread will be light brown when done. Let cool before icing.
Icing:
Beat all ingredients together in a bowl. If desired, food coloring can be added. Work the icing in small amounts, or it will easily dry out.
Place your patterns on top of the gingerbread and cut the edges with a straight-edged sharp knife. After that leave it at the baking sheet and let it cool down. Take your icing and press it out to decorate individual parts of your house, piping on decorations, windows, door as you desired. Let it dry until it´s been hard. Hardened Glue all ends together at corners using melted sugar. Let it dry a few seconds. Glue the two roof pieces to the pitched roofline of the house. Then, similarly, glue the sides and roof of the entryway together with icing. Attach the entryway to the front of the house. When you have your gingerbread house, continue decorating the house, glue on gumdrops, licorice and peppermint or whatever you want to decorate with as you desired. Good luck! Our example how you can put it together and decorate it:
By: Lova Lundqvist
Recipe on Traditional Christmas treats. These are our favourite Christmas treats and we can eat it in giants amouts. First out is the famous ice chocolat, you can make it with either milk or dark chocolat and ad some flavor to it. Light Ice Chocolate 200 g of milk chocolate 100 g coconut fat
Dark Ice Chocolate 200g dark chocolate 100 g coconut fat
Ice Chocolate with mint flavor 200g dark chocolate 100 g coconut fat 2-4 drops of peppermint oil Break the chocolate and melt it in a water bath and gently in the microwave. Add the chocolate and coconut fat distributed in small pieces together and let warm. Stir occasionally so it mixes well. If you Want mint flavor flavored with peppermint oil. Pour into Ice Chocolate Forms. Place cool (in the fridge) as soon as possible. Pack in plastic jar. To be kept in refrigerator.
Secondly we have a recipe on a treat that´s called Snowball ! 100 g white chocolate 125 ml coconut barely 1 tablespoon lemon juice Garnish:
coconut, sprinkles and icing sugar 1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a water on the stove. 2. Stir in the coconut and the squeezed lemon. Taste hesitate to give you just the right amount of lemon - overdose after your own taste. 3. Set the batter cool and let it cool slightly. The batter may not have time to harden completely. Shape into small balls. Tip: If you wish, you roll the balls in coconut or colorful sprinkles. It also works well to powder in powdered sugar. Store in the refrigerator in a sealed jar. Third recipe Chocolate dipped clementines. Chocolate and citrus are two flavors that really lift each other. This incredible good Christmas candy suited to do on winter sweet clementines. You will need: 2 clementines 100 g dark chocolate 1/2 tsp cardamom seeds This is how you do: 1.Peel the clementines and break apart gaps. 2.Cut the chocolate into pieces and place in a bowl, melted in a water bath or in the microwave. 3.crush the cardamom in a mortar. 4.dip the gaps in the chocolate and lift them up on a baking sheet. 5. Spread some cardamom on the gaps and let the chocolate harden. Put it in the refrigerator.
And the last recipe is for the ones who wants to avoid white sugar, but still wants treats. Then we think you should try Dateballs with cinnamon. Dateballs are easy to make and how yummy any time. Make a double batch for Christmas - they are very popular. You will need: 2 dl rolled oats 150 g dried seedless dates 1 teaspoon cinnamon 2 pinches salt flakes about 2 tablespoons water 2 1/2 tablespoons cocoa
This is how you do: 1.First Mix the oats in a food processor. Then mix it with the dates, half of cinnamon, salt and low at a time of water to a paste. 2.Mix cocoa with the rest of cinnamon. Roll the balls of the mixture and roll them in the cocoa mixture. To be kept in refrigerator.
Boxing Day Bandy Do you know all good things about Boxing Day Bandy? For those who don´t know what Bandy is, a short description is like football on ice with skates and you use a smaller pink ball and you play with a stick instead of the feet. You have the same amount of players 10 on the pitch and a goalkeeper who is allowed to use their hands but don´t use any stick. They´re three referees, two assistant referees and one head referee. A tradition here in Sweden is that all the clubs which are rivals play against each other two days after Christmas. It always bring a lot of people and everyone is stuck in the Christmas feeling so it´s a great atmosphere at the stadiums around Sweden. The clubs around Sweden are built and glued together by a lot of volunteers who really are passionate about the club in their hearts. That is the nice thing about Bandy, real passionate supporters that could cut off a finger for the team in their heart to win gold. A game on the Boxing Day usually attracts about 3000-5000 spectators and it´s a good way for the clubs to earn money. The sponsors the club have usually pays an amount of money for every visitor that comes to the stadium.
Torran’s Christmas Story based on a true story
Don’t be fooled by her pretty exterior. At night her true colors show. Colors that make all of you scream for help.
Once upon a time there was a hamster named Torran Bich, and she was a hell of a gangster. She might seem like a cutiepie, but here’s a short story illustrating how Torran became such a gangster. When Torran was born she immediately was taken away from her mother along with her siblings and sent to a pet store to fulfill her purpose to become a gangster. Well… she did. But not in the way she was supposed to; she became her own gangster. After three weeks in hell, Torran saw a sweet little boy with the heart in the right place walking into the pet store. The little boy looked at Torran, and Torran looked at the little boy. There was spark, there was music, and there was love at first sight. Like in the movies, the boy ran across the pet store and opened Torran’s cage to put her in his pocket and left the store. When Torran, after almost being suffocated, finally took a deep breath and got some air in her lungs, she woke up and what met her eyes was outlandish. It was like a dream come
true. An enormous cage stood before her, with the most amazing hamster wheel. And don’t even mention all of the food. Oh yes, Torran was a big fan of food. But, one day, when the little boy was about to pick her up, something changed in Torran. She felt a hunger inside of her, she had never felt before, a hunger craving b lood. Not being able to resist the urge, she bit the cute little boy right where boys don’t want to be bit; the little finger. The boy cried for help, but Torran didn’t let go of the sweet bloodiness of the boy’s wonderful type A- blood. And that’s when Torran’s owner died. Devastated, Torran ran away in shame and regret. Not being able to recover from the trauma, she became a bloodsucking vampire gangster instead. For days she tried to resist blood, but what was left fighting for she asked herself and eventually gave in to the yearning for blood. It was Christmas morning when Torran didn’t know how to control herself anymore. So she walked around on the streets and there she ended up, outside the BR toy store. She looked into the store and there it was, the answer, the talked about playdough. The playdough which will make all your most inner wishes come true. Torran sneaked into the store and believe it or not, but she stole the playdough without paying for it. Bad Torran, bad. Two hours later, the little hamster vampire played with the dough when suddenly the playdough spirit showed up and gave her three wishes. Torran wished for a fancy hamster wheel, grapes and for her owner to return to life. The playdough spirit fulfilled all of her wishes. Three days later Torran had become the sweet little boy’s gangster again, and her not wanted destiny was back on track. But Torran was ok with it, because she had a fancy wheel and grapes.
Torran and the little boy lived happily ever after, except Torran didn’t stop with her vampire manners and the bad cat Bob Sirpa ate her, so Bob didn’t get any presents. THE END By: Julia and Karin L
Santa Claus The legend of Santa Claus does not originate from the north pole as some might think. Instead, the beginning of the tale took place much more south, more specifically in the city of Myra in modern Turkey. Saint Nikolaus was born during the 200’s. He was a bishop, known for his generosity. Saint Nikoaus is the saint of people at sea, which made him very important for the Netherlands that used to be a big seafaring nation. There they call him Sinterklaas, and he is still being celebrated today on December 6. During the 19’th century many Dutchmen emigrated to America, and they brought the tradition of Sinterklaas with them. The American Santa Claus that we know today is a mixture between the British Father Christmas and the Dutch Sinterklaas. The Swedish Jultomte however is a different story. The earliest traces of the Tomte are legends about small gnomes that protected the family farms. They were kind but shy, and sometimes played tricks on those who didn’t take good care of the estate. The modern Jultomte is very much influenced by the American Santa Claus, but they do have their differences. For example, the Jultomte doesn’t deliver the Christmas presents through the chimney during the night. Instead, he shows up in person to every single home. If you remember to place the special tomte-porridge outside the door, that is. This special event often occurs at the same time as someone in the family leaves to buy the newspaper.
In Germany it’s the Christkind that delivers the presents. He is said to be an angel sent by the Christ child, and he wears a white robe and a gold crown. In Russia, and many other countries in eastern Europe, Santa Claus is called Ded Moroz. Ded Moroz translates to grandfather frost in English, and instead of using reindeers he uses three horses. Another difference is that he doesn’t deliver the presents during Christmas, he delivers them on New Year’s Eve. Shinto and Buddhism are the two dominating religions in Japan. Only about 2% of the Japanese are estimated to be Christians, and therefore Christmas isn’t seen as a religious holiday. Instead Christmas is about happiness and love. People do still decorate though, using Christmas trees and tons of lights, and children receive presents. Santa Claus is called Santa-san, which means Mr Santa. However, he is not the only one giving away gifts during the season. Hotei is one of the Seven Gods of Luck. He is represented as a Buddhist monk, and brings gifts during New Year’s Eve. There are many types of Santas around the world. They all have different names, different looks and different ways of giving. But they do have one thing in common. They bring joy and peace during Christmas.
By: Frida Lindberg
Roasted Christmas Ham -This is one of my absolute childhood favorites. The juicy ham and the strong taste of the mustard-honey mix. It is an easy, and delicious addition to the Christmas dinner! I hope that you will like it as much as I do! /Andreas Ingredients:
Possible allergies:
2½-3½kg pork ham 1 egg 3 tbsp. non-sweetened mustard 1 tbsp. honey 1 tsp cornstarch ½dl breadcrumbs
Ham Eggs Mustard/pollen-food alllergy Honey Corn Gluten
Here's how to make it!
The Roasting:
1. Turn on the oven @125°C. 2. Rinse the ham under running water. 3.Lay the ham with the rind up in a oven pan, do not remove the net! 4. Put a meat thermometer in the ham so that the tip is in the center of the ham. 5. Insert the ham into the oven. Watch the thermometer! When it strikes 70°C, the ham is done! 6. Let the ham cool a slight bit. Then remove the net from the ham and remove thermometer. 7. Cut away any excess rind.
1. Turn the heat of the oven up to 200°C. 2. Mix the egg, the mustard, the honey and the cornstarch in an appropriate bowl. 3. Brush the mixture over the ham and sprinkle it with breadcrumbs. 4. Put the ham in the oven until it has gotten a golden colour, ca 15 minutes. If you want to, pour some of the broth over the ham as it cooks for some extra tast and colour. 5. Now you’re done and can enjoy your freshly made, Sweden style christmas ham. Eat it as is or on top of a hard rye bread.
The History of a Mysteriously Tree Outside the window the snowflakes are falling in a calm silent way and inside the warm and glowing house the traditional Christmas songs are being played from the radio and everyone sings along to Jingle Bells. In the living room corner the glowing green Christmas tree stands in its full glory, under the tree all Christmas presents stand. The presents varies in size and colors which every children in the room can’t leave out of site. But where came the Christmas tree from and how did it become a custom for Christmas around the world? Back in the ancient time the Egyptians, Chinese and Hebrews used evergreen tree, wreaths and garlands to symbolize eternal life. The old pagans worshiping of evergreen tree which they thought was a special plant from the sun god Balder, which they believed scared away the devil and helped the birds during the cold winter. Those traditions survived there conversion to Christianity and may have been early predecessors to our todays Christmas tree and has evolved during our time. Already in the early 18th century had the custom of using wax candles been common in towns in Germany; but had not spread to more rural areas because the high prize on wax candles at the time. However the Christmas tree was regarded as a protestant custom by the Catholic Church and didn’t get the breakthrough then. Eventually the custom became wider and more accepted in the early 19th century thanks to German voyages around the world. In Great Britain the first fully decorated Christmas tree was found at the British royal family in 1800, introduced by George III´s German-born wife, Charlotte of MecklenburgStrelitz. But the custom didn’t spread to the middle class before around 1840. Which was influenced by the royal family. The tradition was not spread on a day, and it was a lot of people that was against it around the world but it became common in almost every part of over known world today. Back in America when electricity was invented Thomas Edison´s assistant come up with the brilliant idea of using electric lightning in the trees which lower the risks of fire in the threes. Edison’s invention helped the custom to spread across the American country and became fast an American tradition. The tradition with presents under the tree is common nowadays, but where the origin of the tradition coming from is hard to tell. The Christmas presents however are placed around a week before the Christmas Eve, A tradition loved by young and olds and makes every Christmas Eve a lovely and fantastic day of the year. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
List of sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_tree and http://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas-trees By: Christoffer Skogberg
Vegetarian Recipes In these times, politics is a common subject which comes up sometimes every single Christmas. It always force its way out in a bitter tone among the adults where everyone has their own opinion in all of the questions. Instead the discussions around the Christmas table should be about something important where everyone´s opinion are quite the same. Why not talk about our important environment? The meat consumption is one of this world´s bigger problems and is not just affecting the survival of the animals we eat, it also affects the survival of the human race. So why not ignore the idea of that all of the Christmas food will consist of meat. Maybe you have a vegetarian in your company, that person would be grateful of your devotion. Open up your mind and let the fantasy flow with green thoughts, it is not that difficult. Here is a starter for you all, compensate the meatballs with lentils balls. It is a simple recipe and a great recipe to build up with your own ideas from.
Lentils balls Firstly, give the lentils a good rinse and pick them over. Secondly, boil the lentils in the water with the vegetarian stock cube. At the end of the boiling time (use the timeline on the package), is the leek supposed to be added. Boil the lentils until they are soft and are mashing up. Pour off unnecessary water and pour the lentils into a bowl. Flavour the lentils with salt, pepper and allspice. Mix it all up well, add some flour and put the mixture in a cold place (for example outside, when it´s better for the environment), then it will be easier to form the sticky mass. M down some more flour if needed. Form the sticky mass to small balls and fry them in hot oil. Serve at the Christmas table or whenever. Recipe 2 dl lentils 4 dl water ½ veg stock cube 1 dl minced leek allspice flour
By: Karin Jansson