Christmas Traditions!

Klaus and I spent this year's Christmas with the Krogsgaards in Jylland and I got my first taste of a Real Danish Christmas!

Danish Christmas Tree

It was very "hyggelig" or cozy and it was SUPER relaxing! It was just us, Klaus' parents and his sister and of course Tex who was the center of attention for the majority of the trip! lol! Ruth (Klaus' mom) had decorated their home so beautifully and I loved seeing all of the Nissemand and homemade table decorations.

Homemade Table Decorations

Danish Star ornament- Nichole do you recognize it???

Tex had a great time playing outside in the backyard- he was a little confused the first time we let him out and just closed the door behind him. He's ALWAYS been taken out on a leash and only in the parks is he allowed to run off the leash so it was a new and exciting experience to just play outside. Of course it was WAY more fun when Klaus and I would go out with him and play soccer!

Somebody found a stick to chew on!

Ready to join FC København!

The Danes celebrate Christmas on the 24th which was a bit weird for me, especially because most of it takes place in the evening so it makes for a LONG day, whereas in the States my family would wake up in the morning and celebrate then- no waiting! :)
So on the 24th we woke up and had breakfast and Ruth was already preparing the duck for dinner that night. The morning and afternoon were spent relaxing on the couch and going for a long walk with Tex. After lunch we got ready and went to church for the Christmas Eve service. The church was PACKED!!!! And since its a small town, it seemed like everybody knew each other. :) Most of the songs were new to me, but the last one we sang was Silent Night, except in Danish- which I had assumed would be the same message but just translated... NOPE! Totally different story just set to the same melody! lol!
After church, we went back home and had Christmas dinner! :) YUMMY!!! They served duck with apple and prune stuffing, Flæskesteg, red cabbage and three different kinds of potatoes(caramelized, boiled and roasted chips)! It was about as traditional as you can get when it comes to Danish Christmas Dinner :) For dessert we had Risalamande. There is a tradition in Denmark that they put one whole almond in the bowl and whoever finds it wins a prize, I was told before we started that if you get the almond you are supposed to not let anyone else know that you have it so that people have to eat the WHOLE bowl of risalamande before you reveal it.... well I apparently have NO poker face and on my second bite I got the almond!!! And immediately everyone at the table knew it! :) I'm not sure if they rigged it so I would get the almond on purpose or not, but I was super excited about it! :)

Risalamande with Cherry Sauce

I found the almond! And got the almond-gift!

After all the food, we needed to get some exercise in which was convenient because the next Danish tradition they introduced me to was singing carols and walking around the tree! :) They picked a CD that had both English and Danish carols and they printed out the lyrics so we could sing along. Luckily I had just heard a few of the songs in church so it was easier to sing along and the rest I just listened and tried to join in for the chorus! :)

Singing Carols

After the singing, we FINALLY got to open the presents!!! Like I said, its a long day! lol! Even Tex got a bunch of good presents! :)

Ready to open presents!

Super spoiled puppy!

Unfortunately, he was a little over excited about the new toys and we need to do a few repairs by the next morning, but he had a BLAST playing with all of his new stuff! :) And he LOVED that Klaus' dad was willing to play too! :)

So much fun to play with "Far-Far"!

Poor bird... Blind and missing a wing!

Christmas Day was again spent relaxing on the couch and playing cards and board games. I got to Skype with the American side of our family and wish them all a Merry Christmas too!

Playing Ludo

We had a really great time and I really enjoyed seeing how the Danes do Christmas! :) And we were THRILLED that Tex was on his best behavior for the whole trip, and only destroyed HIS stuff! :)

"MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas as well! And we wish you all a Happy New Year too!
Godt Nytår!
XOXO,
Joy