Merry Xmas - Glædelig jul

In Denmark Christmas is celebrated on Christmas Eve the 24th of December.
Everybody is busy wrapping presents and preparing dinner on the day of Christmas Eve and the children are extremely excited waiting with great anticipation for the evening to arrive.

In the old days it was common to give the animals a special treat on Christmas Eve.
It was widely believed that all animals could talk on this special night, and nobody would like the animals to speak ill of you. Today some families continue that tradition. They go for a walk in the garden, in the park or forest and bring along small goodies for the animals on this very special occasion.

A lot of people attend an early Christmas mass in church before the Christmas dinner not necessarily because they are devoted churchgoers, but because they enjoy the tradition of gathering in church and singing Danish Christmas carols as part of the Christmas spirit.

Most people eat roast duck, roast goose or roast or pork with crackling rinds on Christmas Eve. The duck or goose is stuffed with apples and prunes and served with boiled and sweet potatoes, red cabbage and beets and cranberry jam. The dessert consists of ‘ris à l’amande’ (rice pudding with whipped cream, vanilla and almonds) with hot cherry sauce or ‘risengrød’ (hot rice pudding). A peeled almond is hidden in the dessert bowl and the lucky finder of the almond gets a present.

After Dinner the tree is lit, at last, and everyone joins hands with one another and dances around the tree singing traditional Danish Christmas hymns and carols.

When the children have had quite enough of the singing (and that doesn’t take very long) it is finally time for the unwrapping of gifts.
Normally, one of the children is chosen to select the wrapped presents under the tree and hand them over one at the time so everyone can watch each individual present being unwrapped.
After the last present, it is time for fresh fruit, cookies, home made sweets and coffee.

After a long and enjoyable evening it is time for bed to get up the next day to enjoy lunches with friends and family you couldn't spend Xmas Eve with.

Merry Xmas,glædelig jul from Kakao by K