C. Simionato
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Food is also an important part of Christmastime celebrations, and a special feast known as “julbord” in Swedish, “julebord” in Norwegian, and “julefrokost” in Danish is set up for the occasion. Among other dishes, Swedes particularly like what is called “Janssons frestelse” (or "Jansson’s temptation"), a traditional casserole made of potatoes, onions, pickled sprats, bread crumbs, and cream. The soft drink known as “Julmust”, available in the country only during Christmastime, is the preferred drink accompaniment to Christmas food for an astonishing 79 percent of Swedes. Most Danes bake for themselves for the holiday season, and when it comes to the meal, duck and roasted pork are the most popular kinds of meat eaten for Christmas. A Christmas tree is also a very important part of the holiday season. In Denmark, there were nearly 2,700 Christmas tree farms operating in the country, and a large part of the Christmas trees exported by the country find their new homes in Germany.Holiday shopping and retail
With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a lot of the holiday shopping has moved online. Even though over 10 percent of Swedes stated they imagined there would be lots more people in physical stores for 2021’s Christmas shopping season, almost 50 percent of them said the majority of their Christmas gifts would be bought online.Furthermore, 15 percent of Swedes intended to spend more money on Christmas gifts in 2021 than in the previous year, and the average Christmas budget for Swedish men reached almost 4,000 Swedish kroner. Norwegians were expected to spend over 12,000 Norwegian kroner on Christmas that same year, over 40 percent of which would go to food and drink. Turnover for the general retail trade in Norway (that is, excluding food and drink and e-commerce) was expected to reach 32 billion Norwegian kroner in 2021.
