Firstly, I'll focus on the preparations that have happen at Jakob's home. Basically, they have been in full swing since Sunday the 29th of November, which is when Inger made a few Christmas decorations like the Christmas candle which counts down to Christmas as it burns. These decorations are absolutely beautiful, and have made the house feel so warm because of Christmas. We have also had two advent calendars, one with chocolate and the other an Instant Scratchies type thing, which was very exciting. Also, there has generally always been Christmas songs playing courtesy of Jakob and his laptop, where he has found an online radio station dedicated to Christmas songs. They have been nice, though as most of us know when you hear certain songs over and over again they are more annoying than special. This has actually opened up one thing that I have really missed from Australia's Christmas build up, the traditional Christmas carols and Carols by Candlelight. Certainly however, this has not impacted my enjoyment of 'the silly season' in Denmark. Another thing that has been big in the house for Christmas is the tree, which we got the Sunday before Christmas. As it is a real tree, I had the opportunity to chop it down which was really cool. We actually found out that the tree we got was a 12 year old one from Georgia, so we joked that I had killed a 12 year old...Christmas tree! I actually was able to kill more Christmas trees when we helped the Scout Group sell some on a couple of days before Christmas. We then decorated the tree the night before the main day of Christmas which in Denmark is Christmas Eve, and from then it has really felt like Christmas for me. Certainly the house has been busy in the lead up to this merry occasion, and below are a few photos showing this.
Jakob's school has also gotten into the festive season with a couple of special events. One such event was what is known as Friday Cafe (as everyone translates it to), which happened on Friday the 4th of December. The special Christmas part of it was that we played a special Christmas gift game, where you have a few dice going around the table everyone is sitting at. If you roll a 6, you get to take a Christmas present which are provided by everyone who bring one each. When all the presents have been taken, then people can take other people's presents which leads to many funny moments. Overall it was a fun game to play and made for a lovely afternoon. There was also supposed to be a Christmas dinner and party at the school on Thursday the 17th of December but because of the snow it was cancelled, which was a shame but then again hit was awesome for something to be cancelled because of the snow! The other Christmassy thing the school did happened the day after the party was supposed to be, which was our final day of school for the calendar year (not school year, that finishes in around May/June). In our hour that we were there, we had some of these lovely Christmas balls with jam and sugar which was so tasty, plus we sang some Danish Christmas songs which was rather funny for me considering my lack of proper Danish pronunciation. Certainly, the school was full of Christmas cheer. Below is a few photos from the Friday Cafe (the beer bottles in the background are because the drinking age in Denmark is 16, though not strong alcohol).
All of this preparation and mini celebrations all lead up to the two days over which Danes celebrate Christmas: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Christmas Eve is considered the more important of the two days here in Denmark, which was a touch different to what I was used to but did not matter. As the sun began to set on Christmas Eve (around 3:00pm), Jakob, his parents, his brother Mikkael and me went to a church service for Christmas Eve at the local church. It was a tight affair, but whilst I couldn't understand what I was hearing or singing, I could appreciate the spirituality of it. Once we got home we then had Christmas Eve dinner, the big meal for Christmas here in Denmark, again different to the norm for me. The food, prepared by Inger, was wonderful with a beautiful goose, pork, potatoes and other glorious dishes. For dessert, we had a really nice almond rice dish traditional for a Danish Christmas, which had a single whole almond in it like the penny that is in a Christmas pudding. Unfortunately, I did not get the whole almond so I did not get a present from that, but when it came to the gift giving later that night Jakob and his family were very kind. Overall, Christmas Eve was a wonderful night for me in terms of experiencing a Danish Christmas. Christmas Day, whilst less important in Denmark than it is in Australia, was still an excellent day in terms of the festive spirit. Much of it was spent relaxing in whatever way possible, be it on the computer, watching TV or lazily doing nothing. In between our moments of relaxation, we had a nice lunch with the whole of Jakob's family, where I was able to have herring for the first time in Denmark. I must say that the spiced herring which I had tasted very nice and I would certainly be willing to have it again. I can certainly say that Christmas is a very special time here in Denmark. Below are a number of photos from the celebrations.
As I am off to Scout Scoop, an international Venturer camp held in Denmark to celebrate the New Year, this will be my final post for the year. I therefore wish you all a very happy and safe New Year.
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