SWEDISH CHRISTMAS

Ruth S. Carlson: Christopher D. Caron, Interviewer

Every Christmas we have this early morning service called Jul Otta. That's something they always did in Sweden and that is Christmas to me. No matter how many I have here for breakfast, or dinner, I go to church Christmas morning. That's something I have always loved. I get my family up, and away we go. Now my children like to go.

We still have it at 5:30 on Christmas morning and it's beautiful. You come into church and the candles are all lit in the windows, and the Christmas tree is on and that's all the lights you had. The candle holders were made by our Reverend Carl W. Bergquist, who was our pastor for twenty-one years. He made those candle holders that hold three candles. They're made out of old apple boxes and painted white. So, we treasure those.

We have always kept the custom at St. John's. We are very thankful that the new people that move into St. John's and are not Swedish, they like our old custom. Our ministers always, although they're not Swedish, have enjoyed this service. It's just something that goes with the church. What a wonderful way to celebrate Christ's Birthday.

One of the traditions on Christmas morning had died out in recent years. After Jul Otta, [when we were children] they would always hand us a nice big red apple, which was the best apple you ever ate all year long. It was cold and crisp and I always ate mine on the way home. That was my breakfast on Christmas morning. One day when Reverend Bill Smith was at St. John's, I was saying something about our Jul otta service and how good the apple was, and he wanted to know what apple I was talking about, so I told him. So then, the next Christmas, Reverend Bill and his wife handed out apples to all of us, without letting any of us know that they were going to do it. We were surprised! Since then, the tradition of giving the red apple to everyone who comes to Jul Otta on Christmas morning has been carried out.