The kids finished school on the 16th of December and we had a great week off preparing for Christmas. The streets of Aarhus were lit up and festive and the Danish folk were bustling about. It was interesting to us that the stores on the Stroget were not open the week of Christmas, and we kept wondering how they were going to finish. By the 24th they had it all done!
Speaking of the 24th...Christmas Eve...THE STORES WERE CLOSED??? The Danes celebrate Christmas on the 24th and there was no need for the stores to be open. Ian found one corner store open til noon...he bought milk, bread and eggs (thank goodness!)
Ian managed to get the 23rd off and we did a little last minute shop. We went to the Butcher to pick up our $120 turkey and were in for a treat! Because the waits were so long, the Butcher treated his loyal clients to aquavit, glogg and BBQ medister. It was fantastic and what community spirit!
Back to Christmas Eve, we hosted the Rychlik family, Tom, Jean and Piercen for dins and a "Just Dance" competition. Ian cooked Coq au Vin and it was delicious as usual! Our Just Dance off was won by Hayden...he has got the "moves like Jagger" so he says!!! It was an early evening, and the kids were tucked in and Ian and I enjoyed the beauty of our tree and mass of presents!
On Christmas morning the kids woke up at 8am and checked to see if Santa had come and then came down for a nice Christmas morning snuggle before we all went up and opened our presents. The kids were surprised by Santa who bought them both an Ipod Touch...lucky little ones. As usual Ian spoiled me and we all spoiled Ian!
For dinner, the lovely Blythe family, Richard, Nadine, Artemesia and Isidora as well as Wendy (Richard's mum) joined us. It was a joint effort between Ian and Richard and the food was delicious!!! We had turkey and goose and all the trimmings. The kids all played well and the adults got to socialize!
We rang in 2012 with the Blythes at their apartment in Centrum. It is a Danish tradition to blast fireworks on New Years and it certainly did not disappoint. We ventured out early and Hayden and Isi were so brave and launched several of the rockets. Around 11:45 (it seemed like) thousands of people flooded the streets to set off fireworks. The celebration lasted about 45 minutes and was quite exciting and beautiful. Ian and Richard decided it would be "fun" to set off a rocket from the window. Despite my worry, they had perfect projectile and it exploded spectacularly! As the even unwound we could not get a taxi so we decided to brave the streets to flag one down. Mush to our surprise a cab stopped and he later told us it was because we had small kids. How fantastic! it was a great way to ring in 2012!
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