Poulsbo Christmas

I was so excited to get to go visit Poulsbo, a small Scandinavian town about an hour from us, for a Christmas festival.  We had been wanting to visit Poulsbo for awhile and this gave us an excuse to do it.  It ended up being rainy and rather chilly the day we were there, but we still made the most of our trip and had a great time.

We got there early in the afternoon and spent a couple hours walking the town and enjoying the shops.  They had some really neat vintage clothing shops, antique stores, bakeries and Scandinavian shops.  I had so much fun walking the shops and looking at everything! 

After visiting the shops we walked down to the waterfront where they were putting on Julefest.  It was a Christmas festival that combined Norwegian and Swedish traditions.  It was a lot of fun!  They talked about some of the traditions and then had activities and presentations for us to participate in.  They had those who wanted to, dance around the Christmas tree in circles while singing songs.  Alden was too tired to participate in this but he did enjoy watching and listening to other people for a little while.

Then my favorite part of the whole thing was that they brought in the Lucia bride by boat.  As a little girl I loved reading about this tradition and I always thought the Lucia bride's dress was gorgeous.  I wanted the dress and a crown with candles glowing in it.  So, even though I never got to dress up in that outfit I was really excited to finally see the whole thing.  I seriously felt like it was a childhood dream come true to watch this Scandinavian Christmas tradition.

They actually brought her in by boat and had people dressed as vikings there greeting her.  The people dressed as vikings were carrying actual torches.  Drew thought the whole thing was really neat but he thought it was really funny when they almost tipped the boat at the dock with the girl dressed as the Lucia bride still in it.  Luckily everyone made it out of the boat safely and the whole event went beautifully.

After watching the Lucia bride arrive we went and ate dinner at a little pizza place close to the waterfront.  Then we went back down to the waterfront where Santa Claus had arrived and they had started a bonfire as part of the traditional christmas festivities.  Alden went and sat on Santa's lap and told him what he wanted for Christmas (a snoopy wrapped as a green present).  Then Drew even got his picture taken with Santa before we enjoyed the bonfire for a little bit.  We stayed until we were a little too cold and then left to go home.   This was a wonderful outing and I am so glad that we went because it is one of the most memorable things I have done in awhile.

It was a very pretty little town and I loved the architecture of a lot of the buildings, like the church you can see up on the hill in the picture on the left.

We walked out to a gazebo on the waterfront (this is also where Julefest took place later) to look at the boats and take in the view.  It was very pretty.

It was a very scenic town and the Christmas decorations just made it even more pretty.

It was raining and a little chilly while we were there so we had Alden in his rainboots and warm jacket.

We enjoyed walking the town and looking in lots of different shops.

We had a lot of fun looking around in this bakery and picking out a few different things to try.  I love finding unique foods to try.

 Alden kept it very basic and just got a smiley face sugar cookie but it was yummy.

Anders had fun playing around with Daddy while we were taking a snack break.

 We stopped at the other bakery in town too so Alden could get some water and I could get some hot chocolate.

 It was then time to head down to the water front for the festival.  There were already a bunch of people there when we got down there but we were still able to see and hear.

 Besides, at this point Alden was enjoying resting in the stroller so he and Drew stayed outside the gazebo for most of it so it didn't matter that there were already people there.

 I know you can't really see anything in this photo but this was where they were singing Christmas songs and dancing around the Christmas tree.  Alden did get out of the stroller to see a little of this.

Anders and I enjoyed cuddling to stay warm.

 All the vikings heading out to the dock to meet the Lucia bride as she came in by boat.

There was one guy dressed in a long robe, who looked to be leading the group or something like that. 

Everyone waiting and watching the boat come in.

After eveyone unloaded from the boat, they made a procession back to the Christmas tree and bonfire areas.

This photo shows the Vikings getting ready to escort the Lucia bride from the dock. 

Alden liked getting to see Santa and Drew even got to have his picture taken with Santa.

Unfortunately, the bonfire did not light very well because it had been raining all day, so the wood was all really wet.  

However, Alden still enjoyed watching the fire for a little while.

This was the gazebo that everything took place in, after the festivities were done.  I just really liked the simplistic but tasteful lights on it.

After we got home Drew and I enjoyed a Swedish fruit roll from one of the bakeries.  It was really good!  We had an amazing day and I am so glad that we went and tried something new by going to this festival this year.  I love that Christmas celebrations occur in many different forms but they are all to celebrate the same wonderful holiday.