Christmas step-by-step

Glædelig jul! Jeg håber I alle sammen har haft en helt igennem magisk jul og at I har haft præcis den aften, I har drømt om og håbet på. Jeg elsker virkelig julen, den får næsten altid det bedste frem i folk og det er svært at undgå at være glad. Jeg elsker også altid at høre om de forskellige juleaftener og de forskellige traditioner og jeg synes også det er hyggeligt at fortælle om den aften og de traditioner, som kendetegner aftenen for mig, så jeg tænkte at jeg også lige ville forsøde ventetiden, indtil jeg skal ud og rejse igen, med min juleaften - trin for trin:

14:13: Vi kører på landevejen i en proppet bil på vej op til min bedstefar i Vesthimmerland, hvor vi skal holde jul - den bedste tradition af alle

15:42: Synger julesalmer til julegudstjeneste (som jeg arbejder på at gøre til en tradition) i den nærtliggende og pænt juleoppyntede kirke

16:09: Ser Disney's Juleshow, den eneste tradition man absolut ikke kan diskutere (og ja, det er det samme hvert år - det er julemaden også, men den bliver man heller ikke træt af!)

17:38: (Gen)ser The Julekalender og glæder sig over at Gertrud endelig får sin foodprocessor og at hun fandt kassen med julepynt til sidst - så blev det alligevel jul!

18:53: Æder mig en pukkel til i en perfekt tilberedt frilandsand, franske kartofler og det bedste af det hele: den hjemmelavede (og himmelske) agurkesalat fornemt kreeret af undertegnede

19:29: Bander over at min bror og onkel tilsammen fik 80% af mandlerne og derved de awesome mandelgaver

20:47: Trasker rundt om juletræet alene med min storebror og synger så falsk at der ikke er nogen der kan være i tvivl om at vi er fuldstændigt tonedøve - de andre havde givet op for længst - personligt synes jeg at man skal gøre sig fortjent til sine gaver og derfor skal vi hele julesalmeregisteret igennem

21:19: Smiler meget veltilfreds over at endnu en vellykket juleaften er overstået og glæder mig over hvor heldig jeg er. Det absolut eneste minus er at der ingen sne var eller er.. Der er et eller andet ekstra magisk over en hvid jul og minusgrader.. Det må vente til næste år!

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Merry Christmas! Christmas is celebrated on the evening of the 24th here, so it's almost over now. I hope you've all had a very merry Christmas and that you've spent it with the people you love the most. 

So, I thought.. Instead of just randomly naming all the Christmas traditions we have in our family, I thought I'd give a description of the Danish Christmas in general. I always enjoy learning about the different ways of celebrating a holiday and over the years I've come to know that the celebration of Christmas here in the Northern part of Europe is very different from a lot of other countries in the Western part of the world. 

For instance, if we compare our Christmas to the British and the North American one, there's the date; we celebrate Christmas on the evening/night of the 24th and that's our special day.

During the day on the 24th, kids are over-the-top excited, preparations are made, food is prepared, the last presents are wrapped and you maybe go to visit some friends or family in the afternoon with whom you're not going to celebrate Christmas. A lot of Danes also go to church in the afternoon with their family (which I did with my grandpa this year). This tradition is very loved among the population and the Christmas service on the 24th is by far the most heavily frequented service of the year. It's estimated that around a third of the population is attending a service. 

Around 4-5 o'clock, you'll start spending time with your company, the people you're going to spend the evening with. We eat this big traditional dinner mainly consisting of either 'roast port' (flæskesteg) or roast duck, the former having become one of the Danish national dishes. We eat these roasts with a lot of garnish such as boiled, white potatoes, gravy, boiled red cabbage, chips, caramelized potatoes and a traditional 'cucumber salad' made of pickles/preserved cucumbers cut in slices. For dessert we have risalamande, a cold rice pudding that's served with a delicious hot cherry sauce. Another tradition that I dare say is very Danish: There's an almond hidden in the pudding and the first one to find it wins the mandelgave (roughly translated: almond gift). One of the funniest traditions in my opinion!

But this one might be the weirdest according to the number of odd looks I've recieved when I've been telling people about our Christmas.. We take Brenda Lee's song 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree' very serious (and very literally), because that's what we do.. We dance around the Christmas tree. Usually after eating the feast to burn some calories after we've stuffed ourselves. We sing traditional Danish Christmas songs and I can't speak for anybody else, but my family has a tradition that nobody opens any presents before they've danced around the tree. We sing and dance in a circle holding hands - and I want to add that it's a very beloved tradition, but I don't know if it really counts as a tradition when it's something I believe is done all over the country - but no matter what it is, it's the most beloved thing of all (even though everybody else thinks it's weird..). As usual, I've had an amazing Christmas and I hope all of you feel blessed and happy. Until next year!