The modern Norwegian-American Christmas is a warm and regenerative family holiday for millions of Americans whose ancestors came from Norway--celebrated with family feasts of lutefisk, lefse, rommegrot, rull, and fruit soup, observed in homes where trees are decorated with straw ornaments, flags, and heart-shaped baskets. It is the time to carry on customs whose origins have been lost in the past.

Kathleen Stokker's Keeping Christmas: Yuletide Traditions in Norway and the New Land brings home the stories of Christmas customs in both countries. Norwegian immigrants carried with them...