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Norwegian Christmas, Texas-Style

December 14, 2024

Norsk juleglede og stemming: Clifton Norwegian Country Christmas Tour put people in the Christmas spirit and cheer by celebrating heritage and history

CLIFTON – As the Norwegian Capital of Texas, Clifton annually celebrates its history, heritage and the Christmas season with their immensely successful Norwegian Country Christmas.

The translation of this article’s Norwegian headline is Norwegian Christmas cheer and spirit, because in spite of the wet and dreary weather most of the day, anybody and everybody participating and visiting Clifton Saturday, Dec. 7 got into the spirit and cheer of the Christmas season, thanks to the music, the décor and the friendly, smiling faces wherever they went.

It all started at the Clifton Armory Heritage Village, where a multitude of vendors had everything from scents, coffee, ornaments, leather goods and jewelry for visitors to browse. For the collectors, the Chamber of Commerce offered its 31st edition of their tree ornaments featuring historic sites. This year it featured the First Presbyterian Church.

At the Norwegian Society of Bosque County booth, besides cute ornaments, a massive amount of Norwegian Christmas cookies dominated the table. Phyllis Rieser of the Corner Drug Café, together with an army of volunteers, in two sittings, produced over 2000 cookies for sales at the Armory and the Norwegian Lunch at the Clifton Civic Center.

Displays at the “Little Alamo” historic site, celebrated the community’s agricultural and Future Farmers of America heritage. The Clifton Lions Club funded the construction of the building in 1937, as a home for the rapidly growing Country Fair’s Home Economics category. Renovation started in 201 and was completed in 2019, with structural repairs to the original auction barn following in 2021.

At the Clifton Civic Center, the Cranfills Gap Chamber hosted the Norwegian Luncheon offering meatballs, red cabbage, green beans and of course cookies for dessert for 184 people.

At the Bosque Arts Center, Steve and Jimmy Schmidt offered mellow Christmas music as visitors browsed the artisan wares, visited with Elsa and Olaf and viewed the heirloom quilts on display and there was Gingerbread decorating for the youth and young at heart. Additionally, visitors could marvel at the over 30 artistically decorated tables in the Tablescapes exhibit.

The ever-growing village of fun nutcrackers at the Bosque Museum, greeted visitors at every turn; there is a total of 29 now. There were different props for photo opportunities, and a “choose your favorite nutcracker,” to keep the visitors busy. And there were cookies and wassail.

Out in the country, at the St Olafs Kirke, built in 1886 and restored in 2010, visitors were able to enjoy a morning of Christmas and spiritual music offered by Bosque County Church pastor Tator Pascal, the Bosque County Children’s Choir and Presbyterian Singers led by Beth Fry, Clifton First Methodist Church Pastor Don Moore, Our Savior’s Lutheran’s Steve Heinley and Ret. Pastor Bill Metting and rounded off with the Tuba Players Christmas.

Heinley and Metting offered Beautiful Savior in Norwegian and Silent Night in both Norwegian and German. The tuba players, four of which play in the McLennan Community Orchestra, continued their tradition starting in 2005 of coming to the church with their unique musical celebration of Christmas. Only the ice storm and COVID-19 prevented them from their trek to the beautiful Bosque County church.

The Our Savior’s Lutheran cemetery holds the final resting place of Cleng Peerson, as well as many of the original 12 first Norwegian settlers. It is considered the “mother church” of the Norse community.

This year, the tour of homes drew hundreds from all corners of the state – Houston, Fort Worth, Gatesville, Waxahachie, San Antonio to Austin. The cold weather and rain had numbers of tickets sold down by half, but still 485 tickets were sold for the tour. And people really enjoy the visits to the historic homes, according to Clifton Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Paige Key.

As always the tour included the Ringness House Museum, a haven on FM 219. Built in the 1890s in Gatesville and moved to its present location in the 1940s, the stonewalled Meissner and Son’s Farm House features a massive fireplace/oven. The present owners left many original characteristics intact, holding in the old charm of the home.

The Gary Creek Ranch was on the tour of homes for the third time this year. Homeowners the Penberthy’s feel it is their duty to share the historic home’s history. The home is also known as the Ole Pierson Homestead and is on the National Register of Historical Places and is recognized with a State of Texas Historical marker, in addition to a Bosque County Historical Preservation Plaque.

The Perschke’s “The Perch” is a modern home, blending traditional Norwegian décor with Texas rustic charm was built on the Christian Mickelson farm. Christian with this brothers Andrew and Ole built the St Olaf’s Kirke in 1886. The current home replaced the home originally built by Christian’s son Martin, which was torn down due to extensive termite damage.

At each of the locations, either owners or Norwegian Country Christmas Tour hostesses offered background information on other area treasures, the Norwegian settlers and other history.

At the Cranfills Gap School, the 59th Annual Lutefisk Dinner served 350 guests, eager to continue the Norwegian tradition of eating the lye-prepared stokvis dinner at Christmas time or to just honor their Norwegian heritage, smothering the fish in butter or white sauce. For those not partial to fish, a turkey alternative was served. Students offer folk dances as visitors waited to be seated and helped serve the unique Norwegian dish in the school’s atrium.

And after such a heartwarming day and experiences, there is no better way to close this article than with “Riktig god jul til alle sammen” – “a very Merry Christmas to all,” from here at ChisholmCountry.com and BVSportsbuzz.com with Southern Cross Creative.