What’s dirty santa?
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It’s a game where everybody brings a gift (usually there’s a price limit, like $20) and nobody puts a name on it. All the gifts go in a pile and we all draw numbers. Then we go in order, picking a gift from the pile. Or, if somebody has something you like, you can take their gift from them. If someone’s gift gets taken away, they get another turn to draw from the pile. That’s the basic idea. It was cool for a while but we’ve been doing it for years and i’m kind of tired of it.
Ah, I see.
We have something similar in Denmark called “pakkeleg” (Gift game) Where everybody brings one or two presents and leaves them on the table. Then people take turns throwing a dice, and depending on what it says, they can either take a gift from the pile, steal a gift from someone else, or do nothing.
I don’t really like it, but luckily it’s not a thing in Norway, so I don’t have to worry about that.
Does your family have any special traditions?
We open our gifts on the 24th, which is normal in Scandinavia. We put them all under the tree, and after we’ve sung and walked around the tree for a bit, the youngest person gets to draw a present. The person receiving the present then gets to draw the next one after opening theirs, and we keep that going until there’s no more presents.
We’re like 7 people, so it takes a while, but I think it’s cozy. That way, everyone’s presents gets a turn in the spotlight.
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When i was a kid we had more of a tradition than we do now. Now, it is more just a dinner together and that’s that. We used to all buy gifts for each other and we would take turns opening them one at a time and seeing what everybody got. I think when i was a kid everybody had more money to buy gifts. Now some people don’t work anymore and probably have less money. That’s probably why we do the Dirty Santa game. You only have to buy one present for that.
I guess, for us, Christmas is just a day to get together with the whole family. We don’t do that all that often anymore.
Your tradition sounds pretty cool 
.
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We don’t often get to be under the same roof, so we love our little traditions when we do.
The walking and singing around the christmas tree is mostly to make our mum happy, she gets all nostalgic and stuff, haha.
But I secretly like it too.
We have both Danish and Norwegian family members, so I never know what language to sing in.
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Yeah i wish i was more into the holidays than i am. Over the years i have grown kind of tired of it all. I don’t know if it’s the sza or what but it’s just a stressful time for me. I look forward to it being over and things getting back to normal (as normal as things can be).
It’s cool that you speak multiple languages. I only speak English. Here in the US we don’t put as much importance on learning other languages. I did two years of French in high school but i hardly remember any of it. I also tried learning Spanish (a far more useful language here than French) from a set of instructional cd’s i got at the library. I did that for a while but i really don’t speak much Spanish.
I tried learning German, French and Italian in high school, but I was young and unmotivated.
I wish I’d paid more attention. Now that I live in Denmark, German would be very beneficial for me to learn.
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Are there a lot of German people in Denmark? Or is it because you go to Germany a lot?
There are a lot of German people by the south border, and there are a lot of German tourists during the summer.
But it’s quite easy to get to Germany from here, and I’d love to be able to talk to them.
I understand a little if they speak slowly, but I have no idea what to reply.
I learned Finnish in middle school, but all I remember is “I have a yellow dog” and “where is the toilet?”
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I wish we put more emphasis on learning other languages here. When i was in high school (i graduated in 1994) the requirement was two years and the only options at my school were French and Spanish. I don’t know why i took French when Spanish would be a much better choice here. We have a really huge Spanish-speaking population where i live.
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