Glædelig Jul, or Merry Christmas from Denmark!
| December 24, 2011 | Posted by Eiren Crawford under European Adventures |
Dressage Queen's Christmas Tree
It’s a day away from Christmas, but when you work with horses it’s easy to forget this. They don’t care if it’s a special day for you and yours, they still want their breakfast at 7:00 in the morning, thank you very much!
In the last 10 years, I’ve spent more holidays away from my family than with them, so I’m pretty used to the idea. My family knows I love and appreciate them just the same, if it’s December 25 or March 8 or October 19 or any other date in the calendar.
Thanks to the magic of Skype, I can talk to my parents and siblings in Canada or my brother in Taiwan, and we can make as much fun of each other as if we were in the same room. Maybe it’s not quite as fantastic as actually being there, but it’s close.
I find having a foreigner’s Christmas usually turns out to be a fun time, this year is looking good. Kathryn, our groom, and I have already checked out the Christmas markets in Aalborg (north) and Copenhagen (east). Copenhagen is really great, there were two small markets, more stalls and decorations at the harbor, and then Tivoli, an amusement park that is absolutely full of holiday goodness. (I do have to say though that the best Christmas market I’ve seen yet is in Münster, Germany. Nothing has come close to the charm of this one, and I really did miss it this year.)
Aalborg Christmas market
It's okay for kids to take candy from strangers, at least when they are dressed like creepy elves at the Copenhagen Harbor!
Copenhagen Police horses keeping the shoppers under control.
Closer to “home”, we have a barn Christmas party Friday night. Since it’s a private training stable and a lot of horses have owners in other countries, we’re not a big group – but we are international. We’ve got the Danish bosses, two Canadians, three Americans, and one Romanian. We have dinner and some, ahem, ‘holiday spirits’ and then go in to town to go dancing.
Keep in mind, that no one in this part of the world even goes out to the clubs until midnight, so the Saturday morning barn chores are a dreaded experience as we get older. On any other Saturday, there would only be one person working since the horses have the day off, but this holiday weekend we are all coming in to get the job done together. I’m sure it will be a pretty sight!
A reindeer enjoying the christmas lights at Tivoli.
Tivoli in Copenhagen.
Tivoli, again.
Tivoli looks like Santa's elves decorated Wonderland!
My luck continues as some of my favorite people in the world have family close by, and I’m looking forward to joining them for dinner Saturday night. Danish Christmas dinner is all kinds of delicious! Traditionally, they prepare a roast pork or duck, with potatoes, red cabbage, and gravy. And Akvavit (aquavit, snaps), the “water of life,” can be found on every table.
I haven’t tried the duck yet, but let me just talk about the roast pork: I’ve never seen this before, but they leave the skin on the cut of pork here. It sounds disgusting maybe, but it becomes this crispy, salty deliciousness that will destroy your diet in one succulent bite. Nom nom. For desert it’s Ris ala Mande, or rice porridge with almonds. Actually, there’s just one whole almond and if it ends up in your mouth, you get a prize – normally more sweets!
At home we usually have our family Christmas dinner the 25th. This Sunday my co-workers and I are having a dinner together, a classy Taco Night! Since we can all feed horses without thinking but are absolutely culinarily/domestically impaired, tacos have proven to be a winning idea in the past. The most important thing is that we can work together to prepare everything, eat together, and drink a lot of Christmas margaritas. Joy.
It will surely be a merry Christmas, or Glædelig jul!
Eiren
