Merry Christmas! To celebrate the season, I’m sharing clips, extras and behind-the-scenes notes from Rick Steves’ European Christmas. In writing the Rick Steves’ European Christmas script, I had to choose which countries would “make the cut.” I could fit only seven into the mix. Being Norwegian, I admit that I was biased…and Norway was destined to make the cut. But when we started filming, it looked like Norway would be a weak segment…so I needed to scramble. Norway happened to be wet and warm w

Today is one of the darkest days of winter — and an important part of the Scandinavian Christmas season: Santa Lucia Day. All over Nordic Europe, little candle-bearing Santa Lucias are bringing light to the middle of winter and the promise of the return of summer. To capture the celebration for our European Christmas special, we traveled to Drøbak, where Santa Lucia Day brings everyone out to dance around the trees…with their crowns of real candles. Just up the fjord, in Oslo, we had one night t