Christmas all year round

In Halla, outside Forshaga, it is Christmas all year round. You will find Värmland’s only official Santa Claus and a Christmas Shop here with Sweden’s widest range of everything Christmas. Text: Karolina Arenhäll Photo: Jenny Nohrén

You don’t become Father Christmas: You are Father Christmas. At least, Inge Olsson in Halla is convinced of this. – It’s a calling, just like the clergy.

He, if anyone, should know. After all, he was made an official Father Christmas back in 1995. It is a role he has grown into, keeping pace with his beard which, over the years, has turned from black to white. – I ran a scrap yard for 53 years, so I’ve always been out and about a lot. And often it happened that kids called out ‘Mum, mum! It’s Father Christmas’. The mums tended to be embarrassed but I’ve always said it’s fine. So when I retired it was obvious what I should do instead.

THE SCRAP YARD has been turned into a Christmas shop with what Inge calls ‘Sweden’s widest range of Christmas things’ with over 80 suppliers. And it is open all year round. – I’m at events at shopping malls and Christmas bazars mainly in November and December but the shop is open all year round. During the summer busses with visitors have come all the way from South Africa to say ‘hi’, says Värmland’s very own Santa Inge.

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The Edible Country is a do-it-yourself gourmet restaurant where visitors forage and cook their own food at one of seven tables placed in the Swedish wilderness. Each table comes with recipes composed by four Swedish Michelin-starred chefs and made of ingredients you can find in our forests, fields or lakes. Reserve your place at the table in Värmland and enjoy the beautiful surroundings of the Kittelfältet nature reserve, just a 40 minute drive from Karlstad.