The nisse, or tomte in Swedish, is a creature from Scandinavian folklore. Every farm had one of these. His origins go back at least as far as the Viking age, when it was believed that he was the ghost of the man who first cleared the area and built the farm there (an interesting bit of trivia: the nisse at my home, Julseth, would be a certain Heiðulfr). He minded the farm and its residents, man and beast, at night, but if he wasn't treated well, he could do quite a lot of mischief. For example, he required a bowl of rice porridge on Christmas Eve--as pictured here. Possibly because of this custom, he has become closely associated with the holiday, and when the appearance of Santa Claus was designed in the late 1800s, the nisse with his red hat and long white beard must have been an influence (the Norwegian name for Santa is julenissen, or the Yule nisse).

Anyway, this was a Christmas present for my mother. The title means "Christmas porridge for the nisse", in the local dialect.

EDIT: Scan was so light that I photoshopped it a bit. I guess I overdid it a bit compared to the original, but that only works in the deviation's favour.