A Danish Christmas Eve~2009

Little boys playing in the backyard..lovin' all the snow!

Gwen.Jeff

Grammy. Sawyer. Carter: my mom made the boys these fun, cute aprons to wear when painting, cooking, or helping Dad BBQ. So crafty and cute.

Our Danish Christmas Eve dinner: hosted by Lauren

Cheers!

Grammy.Gwen: My mom even made Gwen some bibs that matched the boys aprons. (:

Sawyer talkin' to Gwen

Our Danish Christmas Dance around the tree

ALL of our amazing, comfy, cozy slippers that Lauren knitted for all of us on her free time on her mission. It took her so long and so much work to get these done for everyone in the family! They are so comfy and warm. She is so talented.

Cute Lauren & The Slippers.

Jeff.Jono.Shelly.Gwen.Lise.Kris.Seth.Lauren

Sawyer.Lauren.Carter.Owen.Mason: Lauren brought the kids these cute little piggy banks that look like the danish mailboxes. They even have little keys to open them with.

Lauren.Shelly.Jono: Jono and I found the almond in the ris ala mande (rice porrage). We won the game!

family nativity play

Carter.Jono.Sawyer.Gwen.Shelly

Owen.Carter.Mason.Gwen.Sawyer

This Christmas Eve couldn't have been more special and fun! First off my sweet & amazing sister Lauren got home from her mission in Denmark! She had gotten home in Denver just a week before. We didn't go out to see her at the airport because we were going to be there for christmas. So I got to see my sister Christmas Eve morning! It was so good to see her after so long. I missed having her around and just talking to her on the phone. It is so good to have her back home and apart of the family fun. Since Lauren had just got back from Denmark, Lauren planned and hosted an amazing, yummy, fun Danish Christmas Eve! Christmas in Denmark is a huge celebration that lasts 3 days! The entire country shuts down to spend time with family, sing songs, and to eat, eat and eat some more!! Christmas eve is the biggest of all 3 days, and comparable to our Christmas day. Christmas Eve is when they eat their traditional dinner and open their presents. Santa comes during dinner so they don't have to wait for Christmas morning to open their presents from St. Nick. Lauren was so sweet and wanted to bring a little Denmark home and show our family some of her favorite Danish Christmas traditions. We started with a huge Danish Christmas Dinner that consisted of Flæskesteg(pork roast), Kartoffler potatoes, Rødkål (sweet & sour red cabbage), Frikadeller danish pork and beef meatball, æbler og blommer (boiled apples and plums), & Brun sauce ( Brown gravy). It was all so good, and Lauren prepared and cooked it ALL by herself, with a little help. For dessert, the Danish tradition is to eat Ris ala mande. This is a rice porrage with whipped cream, vanilla, and chopped almonds. This isn't just a dessert, its a game. In the huge bowl of ris ala mande there is a whole almond. everyone is suppose to keep eating until they find the whole almond. We couldnt eat the whole bowl, but no worries cause I got the whole almond on my first bite. Lauren put a second one in there just for fun, and Jono ended up getting it too. So we got the prize..a little bag of danish chocolates. After a filling, yummy, fun dinner the danish people burn off some calories by dancing and singing around the christmas tree, just like WHOVILLE. (: We moved the tree in the middle of the room and danced around and around holding hands. The kids had so much fun and so did the adults. After dancing around the tree, that is when the Danish people open their presents. Lauren gave everyone Danish presents! Amazing, talented, thoughtful Lauren spent hours and hours and hours of her free time throughout her mission knitting each person a pair of wool slippers. Each one was different and made just for that person. We were all amazed and so excited to have these Danish slippers. They are so warm and cozy! She also brought the kids cute little Danish mail box piggy banks! The kids were so excited. We were all blown away with all that Lauren had done for us to make our Christmas eve feel a little more Danish. It was so good to have her home for Christmas and to be around her. She is one special person, and an example to me. Thanks Lauren for all you did to make our Christmas eve amazing! We of course ended the night reading the Nativity story and acting it out with costumes and all. We are so thankful for our savior and that we get to have this season to celebrate his birth. Lastly we all opened our christmas jammies. By then the kids were so tired and got a little crazy, so we didn't get any cute pics of them in their jammies christmas eve. The kids were so full of excitment for what was going to be waiting for them in the morning. So exciting! We had a day full of special and new traditions, and most of all had the most fun being with the whole family again on Christmas Eve 2009.