Christmas in Denmark

Christmas 2012 was definitely different than anything we've ever experienced.  It was a wonderful experience but we really missed seeing and visiting with all of our friends and family.  And unfortunately, most of us were sick just about the entire month of December.  I think we are finally, mostly, better.  At least for now...  So, let me see, where to start.
I was really surprised to see the stores putting out Christmas items in October.  We have rarely seen any type of seasonal items out at the stores throughout the year.  The nice thing was though, that the Christmas items being put out were very minimal, just small displays and the Christmas decorations here are very earthy.  You won't find any Santa's wearing swimsuits singing Rockin Around the Christmas tree here in Denmark.  Santa is actually not widespread here.  But more on that later.  So, in November, we had a relief society activity where we ate traditional Christmas food, Flæskesteg (ham with a thick strip of crunch skin on), candied potatoes, boiled potoes, red cabbage and lots of gravy.

 But, the highlight of the night was learning how to make a traditional Juledekkoration.

 You start out with a lump of clay, add pine branches a candle and other little decorations.  Most of the women there came with boxes of stuff to make their decoration.  I thought it would be fun to make these with the kids, so the next weeks, we gathered some stuff together and let the kids go at it.  They loved it.

As December moved on, we were faced with the dilemma of what to do for a Christmas tree.  Chad blogged about that here.  In the end, we were quite delighted with our little Christmas tree.

 We also got to attend our Stake Christmas party.  It was pretty fun, with Flæskesteng sandwiches, which were surprisingly good, æbleskivers and pebernødders.  The kids all held hands, sang and danced around the Christmas tree.  Then Santa came out.  The kids were quick to tell us that he was definitely not the real santa. Actually, he was kind of a scary santa, yelling and singing loudly.

They also did a re-enactment of the Navity.  Lexi and Myra got to participate.

On December 13th, we got to celebrate St. Lucia's day with Myra's school.

It's a Scandinavian tradition, to celebrate the Winter Solstice.  They have the kids dress in white and walk in lines behind a girl with a wreath of candles on her head.

 The kids all hold candles and sing songs to celebrate what use to be thought of as the longest day of the year.  You can read more about it here.  We were actually very excited to celebrate the Winter Solstice on the 21st, because after that, every day would just get better!  Our shortest day of the year was comprised of a Sunrise at 8:37 and Sunset at 3:39.  For a total of just 7 hours and 2 minutes of daylight.  And to make it worse, the sky has been constantly cloudy and so gloomy, so it seems just dark and cold all day long.  I think the sun came out for a total of 3 days during the month of December.  Anyway...
Just before the kids got out of school for winter break, Lexi & Noah's class had a Christmas party with æbleskivers, singing and dancing around the Christmas tree, and the Mandler (almond) game.

 

  We were all really excited for when the kids got out of school for the winter break.  We finished up some Christmas shopping, the crowds were crazy.  And most stores were closed down from the 23rd to the 26th, we had to make sure we had everything ahead of time.
Christmas here is typically celebrated on the 24th.  They have their traditional Christmas dinner and then exchange Christmas presents after dinner.  In more recent years, as other influences make their way into Danish culture, Santa will sometimes bring the kids gifts while they are eating dinner.  Then they sing and dance around the Christmas tree.  It was fun hearing about the traditions here, but we decided to mostly go with our own Christmas traditions.  We made homemade pizza on Christmas Eve, made cookies, watched a movie, had a little message about the birth of Christ, read The Night Before Christmas and left out cookies and milk for Santa.
Christmas morning, the kids were all awake by 6am!  They were just so excited.  We made them stay in their room until around 7, then they all came out and we opened some gifts.  The kids were so excited about everything they got.  This was the first year that Noah really "got" Christmas, so it was just a delight to see his excitement.  It was a very relaxing Christmas day.  We just lounged around the house, ate food, watched a movie, the kids played with their new toys and we cooked a ham and potatoes for dinner.  After dinner, we had a traditional Danish Rice Pudding, Risalamande, which translates to Rice with Almonds.  This is served with a warm cherry sauce.  And in the pudding, we hid 1 almond.  Whoever found it, got a prize.  Lexi won.  We spent a bunch of time skyping and calling family members.  I'm so glad for that technology that brings us together.  All in all, it was a nice Christmas season.

 

 I know this is getting long, but I want to tell a little bit more about my observations of the typical Danish Christmas.  First of all, The Danes have certain traditions during the Holidays that EVERYONE follows.  Everyone eats the same dinner on Christmas Eve. (Flæskesteng, Red Cabbage, Boiled Potatoes, Candied Potatoes.)  I've even read that adding anything different to the table is frowned upon.  Everyone sings and dances around the Christmas tree.  The month of December is full of parties and get togethers.  If you go to one, you are just about 100% certain of finding warm æbleskivers served with powdered sugar and jam.

 They are actually really good.  You'll also find a bowl of pebernødders.

 Pepper Nuts are little cookies with a small peppery flavor to them.  They are quite addictive.  Also, the Rice Pudding, Risalamande, is found in every home on Christmas eve.

 
 Then on Christmas Day, most people just have a quiet day at home, with a traditional dinner of duck.  Denmark also has a traditional drink, called Gløgg.  It's typically an alcoholic beverage, although they do have non-alcoholic for the kids.  We didn't try any, maybe next year.  Most homes will also have little weaved heart decorations, sometimes hanging on the tree with pebernødders in it. (See the above picture with heart decoration and pebernødders.)  And although Santa isn't real widespread, the Nisse are.

 Nisse are elves or pixies that protect the home and land.  The tradition from many years ago was that if the Nisse wasn't treated well, they would do mischief on the land, usually pretty mean things, like killing livestock or poisoning a well. But, all they had to do to keep him in good spirits was to feed him Risengrød, a sort of rice porridge with butter in it.
Another fun thing we did this year was the Elf on the Shelf.  We actually had 2 elves come and visit us.  The kids named them Pippin and Holly.  They did a lot of mischief during the night.  The kids loved getting up every morning to see what they had done.

This was a fun new tradition that we look forward to continuing with in the future.  The great thing about the elves, is that they were there to report good deeds to Santa, not to tell Santa if the kids were bad, so the focus was on doing good things.  We are all hoping they come back again next year.
So, I guess that about sums up our first Christmas in Denmark.  We had a really fun month and enjoyed the closeness our family felt during the Holiday Season.