DAY 8 – WEDNESDAY 12TH DECEMBER, 2018.

A chilled out day today.  Pete is home sick.  We have also decided to have a day in as the temperatures plummet to 3.8 degrees today.  We have spent a couple of very big days out wandering around so have decided to give my knee a break today as we plan to head in to do the Christmas markets with Pete and Maria tomorrow evening, which will involve a lot more walking again…

Also Theo’s christening and dedication is only a few days away now, and Maria would like me to embroider Theo’s name on the christening gown that has been handed down from her mother, and has her name and her two sisters names as they all wore this gown when they were christened.

My mission today is to get that embroidery done and start to prepare for the weekend. 

Today has been a very quiet indoor day today.  We spent the morning with Pete and Maria where we enjoyed lots of cuddles with Theo.   I had an afternoon rest and had the luxury of reading a book, Steve enjoyed doing some research on the computer…

Theo cuddl

Maria took off to the shops to get some embroidery cotton so that I could sew Theo’s name on the Christening robe.  We babysat Theo.

Later in the afternoon Steve and Pete ducked out to pick up a Christmas Tree from just around the block…

The netting is off and now it is time to decorate the tree

Traditionally the Danish Christmas tree is the common spruce type tree but nowadays most people prefer the Normann spruce tree. It not only has softer needles, it also withstands the normal room temperature of modern homes much better.  This was the tree that Steve and Pete were off to collect.

They weren’t gone very long and came home with a lovely tree.  It looked like the artificial ones that we buy back in Australia but the beauty of this one was that it was a real tree and the smell was amazing…

Maria decorating the tree

Pete put on some Christmas carol music whilst the tree was decorated. In Denmark the tree itself is decorated with a silver or gold star on top (never an angel).   

Embroidering Theo's ChristeningGown

Whilst Maria decorated the tree,  I finished the embroidery on the dress for Theo’s christening. 

Peter installing the lighting on the Christmas Tree

The Christmas Tree is decorated and lit.

 Once the tree was decorated, it was Pete’s turn to hang the Christmas lights.  In Danish tradition it is the father in the family who is in charge of lighting the candles on the Christmas tree.  These days, most Danes use light chains on their trees instead of candles, but you must use uncoloured bulbs.  Danes do not do coloured or blinking Christmas lights. 

Danish Christmas drink Glogg - mulled wine with almonds and raisins

Once the tree was decorated and then lit it was time for another Danish Christmas tradition. Pete made us some Glogg.   This drink is drunk in December to keep warm and create Christmas hygge.  The Danes drink Gløgg, a  drink basically made of mulled red wine along with various spices, raisins and sliced almonds.

Danish Aebleskiver (Pancake balls)

        

Pete also make us Danish Aebleskiver (Pancake balls) to add to the Christmas spirit.  These are delicious pancake balls cooked on the stove in a special pan with icing sugar, jam or maple syrup and we enjoyed these with our cup of hot glögg.

Danish Calendar Candle

 Another Christmas tradition we have been enjoying whilst here has been the December tradition of lighting the Calendar Candle.  This candle is, just like a tape measure, provided with 24 markings, normally decorated with motives of fir and little pixies with red cheeks, wearing red hats and dancing merrily in yellow clogs. In most families the candles are lit every day from December 1st as a soothing factor in a hectic period.   Peter and Maria had made their arrangement and had been lighting it since before we have arrived.  We have carried on the tradition each evening as we have had dinner…

 

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

It is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas now….  The house is decorated, the stockings are hung and we are warm and cosy indoors….

We spent the rest of the evening just chilling out and watching television together.   The temperature never rose about 3 degrees today, so we are definitely feeling the cold… At least it is warm inside with the indoor temperature sitting around 21-22 degrees.  Obviously this is the most comfortable temperature for us as humans, as in Australia we cool our houses down to this temperature, but over here they warm their houses to this temperature.

No sure what we have planned for tomorrow if anything.. In this weather it is very easy to remain indoors…