Keeping Christmas: Yuletide Traditions in Norway and the New Land

The modern Norwegian-American Christmas is a warm and regenerative family holiday for millions of Americans whose ancestors came from Norway—celebrated with family feasts of lutefisk, lefse, rømmegrøt, rull, and fruit soup, observed in homes where trees are decorated with straw ornaments, flags, and heart-shaped baskets. It is the time to carry on customs whose origins have been lost in the past.

Kathleen Stokker's Keeping Christmas: Yuletide Traditions in Norway and the New Land brings home t…