Welcome to the Watching the Swedes Advent Calendar. Every day, I will open a window containing a Swedish word that has something to do with Christmas and its approaching weeks.
Today’s word is ‘Julklappsrim‘ which translates as ‘Christmas present rhyme’
If you receive a gift at Christmas time,
You’ll find in Sweden that it comes with a rhyme.
The packets are wrapped, the present to hide
And a poem describes all the contents inside.
You see, Swedes write poems on the label
Sometimes direct, sometimes a fable.
They sit in a workshop creating their verse,
It needs to be brief, but not at all terse.
The poem is read, the packet ripped open
And you see what you got, still leaves you hopin’
For a phone or a trip or a book about crime,
Wrapped up with a Swedish Christmas rhyme.
Watching the Swedes 