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Sweden has the honor of celebrating one of the zaniest Christmas holidays ever conceived. It starts at three p.m. on the afternoon of Dec. 24, Christmas Eve, and ends an hour later. In the hearts and minds of the nation of Sweden, albeit written nowhere in legislation, this is the official start of the Christmas season, including feasting, home celebrations, gift-giving, partying - a mid-winter holiday that goes on at least two weeks into the next year (despite that it actually launches tardy: about three days after the shortest day, the winter solstice).

Nearly all other Swedish Christmas season activities are steeped in tradition, except its one-hour kickoff - which is a television program that is filled with Walt Disney cartoons, and the same cartoons every year, the same program host every year, the same scene, candles, words. The slightest deviation in this hour of broadcasting evokes outcries of dissatisfaction from adults who've watched and memorized each moment throughout their lives.

Officially, and on calendars and union rulebooks, the day and evening before Christmas are NOT holidays. Almost without exception, any business that is able to entirely close its doors does so in good time for workers to be home by three in the afternoon, and offices close for the whole day. But the start of the television program is something that nears being sacred. Traffic everywhere thins to a trickle that's not as much as in the darkest hours of night, although this is mid-afternoon. Everyone is watching the Christmas cartoon program, which inevitably ends with Jiminy Cricket singing "When you wish upon a star" and Mickey Mouse and his compadres wishing all a Merry Christmas - in English (but with subtitles).

When home videotaping arrived in the early eighties, this was among the first programs to be recorded. It is played over and over during the year as a recollection to old and young, one and all, of the cherished moments at the beginning of the holiday season. Some genuine fans actually record every year's program and compare the slight additions or subtraction as well as the inevitable retirement of grey haired emcees that are replaced by newcomers, already elderly and fatherly, that will hold the post nearly to the end of their days. The tradition has spread to Denmark and other countries. Although it appears on a single public television channel, attempts by others to compete with its overwhelming audience share have repeatedly failed.

Another uniquely Swedish Christmas feature is the gingerbread house. Historically speaking, it is the very same baked miniature abode that is covered with goodies much the same as those edifices of sweet temptations that attracted Hansel and Gretel in German fairy tale times - a definite indication that its earliest constructions probably date to colonial trading times when the spices for gingerbread became abundant in Europe. Of course, the gingerbread house is a joy for children, and in Sweden, this edible abode is a fixture throughout the Christmas season.

While packaged versions naturally exist, it's not uncommon for these to be baked from scratch. Even the packaged versions are custom designs because the kit comes with the basic four walls and a chimney. To this, according to tastes, a variety of candies are added onto the roofs, sides, around the cotton-covered "snowy" landscape and, sometimes, inside the house itself.

This relatively contemporary addition to tradition relates to an even more recent concept that is beginning to spread: the after-holiday demolishing of the gingerbread house. Instead of merely chomping away at the gingerbread itself during the Christmas season, children ceremoniously pound the house to bits, and then consume all the edibles, including candy upon and within the shattered dwelling.

To some extent, this correlates to another Swedish Christmas tradition for youngsters that entails removing and consuming bits of candy and cookies that have been fastened as decorations to the Christmas tree. It is called "Tree Plundering," occurs generally after "Trettondagshelg" (Epiphany, on January 6), and it accomplishes simultaneously the task of removing the other ornaments, lights, etc. - usually done by adults - while children as occupied with eating the goodies. It also avoids any remorse that might arise in children's thoughts about the end of Christmas and the disposal of the now-dried pine tree from the household.

So, in summary, there are some good ideas from Swedish Christmas traditions that have some practical aspects for the modern American family...and a few that you just have to accept with the customary explanation of "those wild and crazy Swedes" to explain their existence.