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Julen og Nytårs

Glædelig Jul!
             It's Christmas post time! :) A little late but that happens. I had a wonderful Christmas with friends and "family" and it was really cool getting to experience it with a different culture. I spent Christmas Eve with the family and Christmas Day with friends. Here, they do their big celebrations on the 24th and relax more the next two days. I got to share Mom's Christmas egg casserole with them for breakfast on the 24th. We then relaxed some, I went for a run, and I watched the kids while they went to church in the afternoon. I tried to get the kids to participate in Christmasy fun... Baking cookies, drawing Christmas pictures, but they weren't having it so I made cookies and drew a Christmas tree by myself. I went to the next church service when they got back. It was only 30minutes long! I came back for a lovely dinner of duck and potatoes. The duck was so delicious with some apple jelly dip. After dinner, we had the risalamande... Their rice porridge but made, instead, with cream, almonds, and sugar. The have a tradition of giving whoever gets the hidden whole almond a prize. After dessert was time to sing around the tree. Then came present time. I definitely prefer the waking up on Christmas Day to open presents tradition. Then you have the whole day for playing with new toys too. 
We had fun opening presents, and I got to "open" my backpack that Mom filled with presents. The kids liked the stockings I made for them too! :)
I had considered going to some Christmas celebrations with Bogdan but we didn't get done until like 10, I still had to make my next Christmas breakfast casserole for the next day, and I was quite exhausted so I stayed in. So the next morning, we had my French toast casserole (well Claus, Lotte, and I did... The kids didn't wanna try bread soaked in brown sugar and syrup... Weird right?) I then went for a "nap" that turned into 5 hours (of course) and woke up in a hurry to get ready for the "Lost Children's Club," a gathering of all the foreigners that weren't going home for Christmas. It was me, Jen, Fiona, the lovely host who's from Ireland, and three new friends; a couple from Latvia and a guy from Spain. We had a great meal of vegetarian dishes, and chicken that Jen provided for the meat eaters. Fiona had prepared a big feast with a delicous nut roast with butternut squash, mashed sweet potatoes, red cabbage, and veggies. Mulled wine and Fisk were also included of course. What's a Danish party without Fisk? It was such a great time with some cool characters, good food, music, drinks, and games! 
The next morning, I was going to catch a train to meet the family in Jutland, but due to complications, I decided to stay in and wound up just watching like 3 movies. It was nice and relaxing having an empty house to myself. I kind of wish I'd met them out there because I missed some good food and more celebrations but it was also stress free and nice staying in. 
Jen, Fiona, og mig
The feast!
One of the tattoos 
  Glædelig Nytår!
           Ah, New Years... It was wonderful New Years spent with Thomas and his friends at a Danish dinner party. His friend, Morten, made the dinner which was amazing. We had a salmon and asparagus appetizer that was delicious and beef Wellington for the main course. Everyone was really nice and I had a good time with everyone. Sara (also awesome) and I had fun with some rainbow tape, and Camilla and I enjoyed the Jell-O shots the most I think. Haha
             We went to the lakes for fireworks and music at midnight. The fireworks were awesome and just walking to the bridge was really cool with people shooting them off all along the way. I remember being quite happy walking through all this. We ran into Jen and briefly went to Charlie's before coming back to pass out... At least I did... Lightweight I guess. It was a super fun night. 
The super fancy table and Louise
Super good salmon appetizer
Beef Wellington in the making
My most normal picture from the night
Handcuffs and rainbow stickers
And done. 

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