Christmas Season 2023/2024 - Christmas Eve: Kalle Anke (plus article)

Saturday, December 24, 2023

Kalle Anke started at about 4:30. First up was Mickey's Christmas Carol. 

Then, Pluto's Christmas Tree...

Finally, Santa's Workshop.

Click on the link below for an Atlas Obscura article on Kalle Anke. 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/sweden-christmas-donald-duck-television

Christmas Eve 2022 - Kalle Anke

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Started Kalle Anke at 3:00 p.m. 

Found one of the old Disney From All of Us to All of You videos on youTube. 

I don't think it's the same version that's broadcast in Sweden but it worked fine just the same. One of the cartoons was Donald's Snow Fight which was pretty funny.

Dale made himself some tea.

I had a Bloody Mary.

Sylvester slept.

Christmastide 2021/2022 - Kalle Anke

Friday, December 24, 2021

The service we attended this afternoon was quiet short. It only lasted about 50 minutes and we were home not too long after 5:00. It was still somewhat light when we pulled into our driveway. Time for Kalle Anke! This year we watched Mickey's Christmas Carol. 

After that we watched The Small One. All very cozy. 

I had a Bloody Mary for the occasion. After cocktails we had a simple dinner of reheated lasagna which we made a couple days ago. It was a quiet, simple, and lovely Christmas Eve and I so happy to have spent it with my darling Dale. 

I ordered a few ghost stories online recently but they won't show up until after Christmas. However, Mickey's Christmas Carol counts as a one. 

Christmas Eve 2020 - Kalle Anke

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Kalle Anke this year was in the form of a Disney DVD I picked up years ago featuring a bunch of winter themed Disney shorts. My two favorites are Mickey's Good Deed from 1932 and Rescue Dog from 1947.  

The Depression era Mickey's Good Deed finds Mickey wanting to bring Christmas joy to a downtrodden family at great sacrifice to himself. Amazing to me that this short is 88 years old. 

Rescue Dog has Pluto interacting with a mischievous seal who keeps trying to steal his cask of grog. 

I got a kick out of the sign that Pluto displays early in the cartoon. It makes me think it would be nice to have such a sign at the entrance to our house as a testament to our residence being graced by Athena, our own lovingly dutiful dog who watches over Dale and me. 

Here is Athena on duty as we watch another Disney short during our Kalle Anke observance.

I read recently that in Sweden in 2019 Kalle Anke och hans vanner onskar God Jul (Donald Duck and His Friends Wish You a Merry Christmas) had 3.3 million viewers which is just under a third of the entire Swedish population. 

Christmas Eve 2019 - Kalle Anke

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Settled in for Kalle Anke at around 2:15 which is a little earlier than usual. 

I put in a DVD called Disney's Merry Christmas Songs which is a sing-a-long. I used to show it to the kids at a school a worked at a number of years ago. Great fun and lots of memories.

Didn't finish the DVD before heading to the Christmas Eve service but we watched some more of it afterward and before heading over to Mom's for fondue. 

There's been some concern in recent years that the tradition in Sweden may eventually go away as younger folks are used to on-demand watching due to DVDs and now streaming. It's my understanding that viewership, once at a height of around 50 percent of the population, has dipped to "only" a third of the population. However, home video has been around since the early 1980s and the tradition is still strong. I read that as recently as 2016 cell phone use dropped 28 percent and calls to emergency services fell 16 percent during the broadcast of the show. 

I find that my own version of Kalle Anke on the 24th provides a nice transition from the more secular aspects of the season to the more religious. 

Click on the link below for an article from Slate magazine on Kalle Anke.

https://slate.com/culture/2009/12/sweden-s-bizarre-tradition-of-watching-donald-duck-kalle-anka-cartoons-on-christmas-eve.html

Christmas Eve 2018 - Kalle Anke

Monday, December 24, 2018

Settled in with Dale and Athena for a 3:00 p.m. Kalle Anke start time. In the recent special we watched, Donald neglects to fly south so he can experience Christmas with Mickey and friends. Unfortunately it's at great expense to his well being and health. Fear not. Santa arrives just in time and life lessons are learned. 

I find that Kalle Anke at 3 p.m. helps make a nice transition from the more secular aspects of Christmas that are hard to ignore even during Advent to the religious aspect of the imminent evening activities and upcoming 12 days.  

Christmas Eve 2017 - Kalle Anke

Poured myself a Christmas Eve martini and...

Christmas Eve 2016 - Kalle Anke

Saturday, December 24, 2016

After our Christmas Eve service, Dale and I watched a version of Kalle Anke on YouTube.  We searched for From All of Us to All of You and found some of the shorts shown on the Swedish special including Bella Notte (the spaghetti scene) from Lady and the Tramp, You Can Fly from Peter Pan, and the Silly Song from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Christmas Eve 2015 - Kalle Anke

Saturday, December 24, 2015

Dale and I came home from Mom's a little early so we could get ready for our Christmas Eve service. Both of us are singing in the choir. We had a little time for Kalle Anke prior to departing.

Christmas Eve 2014 - Kalle Anke

Last year at the American Swedish Institute, I discovered the phenomenon of Kalle Anke. Kalle Anke is Donald Duck and every year in Sweden a version of Disney's American Christmas special, From All of Us to All of You, is broadcast on Christmas Eve

According to Wikipedia:

"In Sweden the show is called Kalle Anke och hans veneer onskar God Jul (Donald Duck and His Friends Wish You a Merry Christmas). It is broadcast on SVT at 3 PM every Christmas Eve. . . The title reflects the fact that Donald Duck is far more popular in Sweden than Mickey Mouse. The show is one of the most popular shows all year in Sweden.  Every year the viewers number between 3 million and 4.5 million in a country with just more than 9 million inhabitants. Few TV shows fetch more viewers, among these are Melodifestivalen/Eurovision Song Contest and certain major sports broadcasts."

"The following shorts are usually shown, in integral or edited formats:"

-Santa's Workshop

-Clown of the Jungle

-Pluto's Christmas Tree

-Mickey's Trailer

-Ferdinand the Bull

"These feature films are represented through important scenes:"

-Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

-Cinderella

-Lady and the Tramp

-The Jungle Book

-Robin Hood

At 3 PM today, Dale and I watched an old DVD of Disney cartoons that I have on hand for the nieces and nephews. It's not the line-up of the Swedish version but it did the trick for the purpose of trying to recreate the Swedish experience. Being a bit Swedish myself, I'll consider this a nod to my ancestry.

Christmas Season 2013/2014 - My Swedish Heritage and Disney Cartoons (Kalle Anke 2013)

What does my Swedish heritage have to do with Disney cartoons? On our recent (December 31) visit to the American Swedish Institute, Dale and I noticed that part of the Christmas displays included a showing of Disney cartoons (dubbed in Swedish) on a regular sized television set up in the old ballroom. Accompanying the showing was the following on a placard:

"A Swedish Christmas is a mix of many traditions, both old and new. While Carl Larsson may cringe, children no longer ask for fruit and nuts for Christmas, not when they can request the newest PlayStation or Xbox."

"The Christmas tree is traditionally brought inside just in time for Christmas Eve. Those in rural areas sometimes hack down their own trees with saw, ax, or whatever tools they have on hand... with varying levels of success."

"To outsiders, the most bizarre Swedish Christmas tradition is a ritual viewing of American cartoons. At 3:00 PM on Christmas Eve, all good Swedes tune in to the 1958 Walt Disney special, Kalle Anka och hans vanner onskar God Jul. ('Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas.') For reasons unknown, between 40 and 50% of the population watches the rebroadcast each year, bringing a touch of American nostalgia to Scandinavia."

Wow. Who knew?

Back in the late 1990s I used to show the kids an old VHS cassette titled Disney's Very Merry Christmas Sing Along Songs just before Christmas vacation. They loved it. I now have it on DVD. While it's not the same program as the one in Sweden, it is Disney and Christmas themed. So, just for fun, I watched it today as a tip-of- the-hat to my Swedish heritage.