Pictures

Pri has requested that I put up some Christmas pictures :) I didn't really take as many as I had planned with the food and everything, but here are some of them, starting with a cute decoration of a type that is popular here:













Noah and all the presents













Playing with the niece and nephew













Right as I opened the Phantom of the Opera tickets out of the dvd case













Also we went to Tivoli last Saturday - I got free tickets from work! Did I mention I like my job? So yeah, I took some pictures of the cute doll display and Morten trying on hats.

Danish Christmas

For the Danes, the 24th is "Christmas" (called "Juleaften") and then the 25th and 26th are "First Christmas Day" and "Second Christmas Day," respectively. So in Denmark, there are technically 3 Christmas days. And actually, the whole month of December is pretty much considered as Christmas. All month long people keep advent calendars and burn advent candles, and the kids get advent presents which means a very small present every day until the 24th (hair ribbons, pens, etc), or a slightly larger present every Sunday. When we get kids we're going to have to figure out if we will do that or stockings or somehow combine the two, so they don't get spoiled rotten out of the two traditions.

On the 24th, the family gathers for a big Christmas dinner with certain foods. We went to Morten's sister's house. The traditional Christmas feast consists of roast duck, pork roast, both regular potatoes and smaller potatoes with a brown sugar coating, brown gravy, and red cabbage. Then comes the ris'a'la'mande (rice pudding) with cherries on top, and somebody has to find the almond in it. Alex found it, and for a prize he got a gift certificate to the movies.

After dinner we dance around the three. I felt pretty foolish, especially because while dancing around the tree, we had to sing a lot of Danish Christmas songs that I don't know. They sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in English in my honor though, which I was grateful for. It is fun to see all the big grown up men do something like dancing around a Christmas tree and singing cute little songs, but they took it quite seriously and didn't seem to think it was strange at all. That's one of the things I appreciate about Danish men, the whole macho attitude is just nonexistent. Anyway...

After dancing around the tree we all got settled for a REALLY long display of present opening. The tradition, at least in Morten's family, is that we open only one present at a time so everyone can see what it is, then the person who opened last picks a new present for someone else. We were 11 people and there were lots of presents for all, so it took about 2 hours to open them all. My favorites were from Morten: he gave me 2 dvds, Mamma Mia and Sense and Sensibility, and then best of all, he took my Phantom of the Opera dvd case and wrapped it with tickets to see the show next month inside. Yay!!! I have never been to the show so I am really excited to go. I also thought it was very nice that in addition to some other stuff, Morten's mom made a skirt for me :) Very personal and cute. Morten was also very happy with his presents.

Usually danish families will have a Christmas lunch on the 25th, with a several course meal of different dishes, all to be eaten with the traditional rye bread (rugbrød). In Morten's family they also do a game with white elephant gifts on that day. We didn't do it yesterday though because tomorrow there will be a really big birthday party for the Grandpa, and they didn't want to overwhelm everyone with too many parties. So on the 25th we just had a quiet day, ate pizza, and went to see Australia.

It was a very good Christmas, though very different. I think it's probably good that Christmas here is different than at home, because it doesn't make me homesick that way, it's just fun to see how they do it and enjoy the "coziness."

Funny Christmas Video

This is pretty funny...

Æbleskiver og Ris á l'amande

Now it is time to tell you about two danish Christmas desserts.

Æbleskiver is a cross between pancakes and doughnuts. So of course it goes without saying, that I like them very much :) They are fried in a special pan that you can see in the picture, with little round dents that you pour dough into. Apparently you flip each one with knitting needles when it's ready, but the one time Morten and I tried, we failed miserably.

To eat the æbleskiver, traditionally you would dip each one in powdered sugar and/or rasberry jam before taking a bite. MMMMMM!!

I should also tell you about ris á l'amande. It's a french name but is actually a traditional Christmas dessert in Scandanavia. It is rice pudding with whipped cream and chopped almonds, and usually you cover it with cherries and sauce.

Almost every family in Denmark will have ris á l'amande on December 24th. There is a special game associated with ris á l'amande. There are chopped almonds throughout it, and some of the pieces can get quite large, but there will be only one whole (peeled) almond somewhere in the bowl of pudding. So on Christmas eve the family will have to finish the entire bowl of ris á l'amande until someone has "found" the whole almond. Some people will conceal the fact that they have found it (i.e. hiding it in their mouth as they continue to eat), just to make everyone get really stuffed, before they reveal that they have found the almond. Then the one who has found the almond gets a special gift.

I'm really looking forward to a "real" Danish Christmas this year, with Morten's family. I know a lot more of the traditions but I will wait to tell about them until I have experienced them first hand.

I really like my job!!

I also get to watch funny people on the train in the mornings.

1) The young father with a baby carriage, cooing and smiling at his baby every morning.

2) The little tiny girl reading the chronicles of narnia. She looks about 7 but she must be older.

3) Last but not least the reeeeally tall lady with a huge fur coat, extra large hat with strange gold embroidery and a fur band that covers all her hair, and pointy wide rimmed glasses.

Gotta love public transportation.

Rotten Turkey and So Forth

Thanksgiving was lovely. JM was in town and we had a big get together. We did have a problem with the turkey though. Somebody (won't mention any names, you know who you are...) left the turkey in a sink full of water to defrost...for 3 days. So when we unwrapped it, the smell was not too pleasant. After determining that the turkey really was quite dead, we opted for chicken and a small turkey breast (NOT frozen).

Here's some Thanksgiving pics:

Me and my lover boy


That's just cute


Rotten Turkey


The Cooks


This is why we don't let Stephan cook.


In the absence of a rolling pin, use a cucumber!



Moving on from Thanksgiving...

...here is a picture of the very first advent candle nature decoration thingy I have ever made. With help from Morten's mom and sister.


Yesterday was my first day of work. I shall summarize the experience thus: after attending an orientation meeting that consisted almost entirely of listing all of the astounding (and unexpected) perks involved in working there, I was then escorted to my department where everyone was very sweet, and waiting for me on my desk were a bouquet of flowers and a box of cookies. So yeah, I like my job. A lot.



And finally, Morten and the hair dryer.