Funny as I start to write this blog in the New Year I am actually only going to be posting about events which transpired over the Christmas holiday. Though I am very excited to start posting about happenings in this New Year.
As you may know my family came to visit me over the holiday. The plan was that my dad come over the week before on business, return to the states for two days and then return once more with my mother and sisters. But due to wonderful weather conditions (for most people during this holiday tend to dream of having a white Christmas) my dad never left Europe and my sisters and mother were delayed 8 hours in Amsterdam. But they all arrived safe and sound on the 21st! My dad arrived very early that morning and even managed to travel out to Måløv to have some æbleskiver and other traditional Danish Christmas treats. Later we met and went and picked up the rest of the family from the airport and traveled back to my apartment for a little bit of food and then to allow the travelers to get some rest.
Before I continue any further I must warn you that this post will contain many many many many photographs. Because for one my sister Keri and I both took a numerous amount during this holiday and two because I still had a hard time choosing which pictures not to show. I hope that by seeing them you get an even better picture (I had to say it) of the time we shared here in Denmark.
The first full day that my family was here we made plans to walk around the area by Kongens Nytorv. We saw the small Christmas shops that pop up during the holiday season, along with ice in the canal. The water freezing was something that seemed completely new to me. I have been to skating rinks, and even up to Alaska where we saw ice floating along as we boated around. But somehow seeing it in a place that you are living and just in town and not being placed in the last frontier it captured my attention.
 |
| Bike on the ice! |
The rest of the photos simply display other sights we saw that day. We continued our walk around the pier and around back to the circle and decided to stop for lunch in the department store cantine. Once refreshed we set off down the walking street (Strøget). It didn't take too long before my parents realized it was time for that mid-afternoon coffee pick me up. We ducked into a small coffee shop and even managed to find a place to sit (NOT AN EASY TASK IN EUROPE). With our spirits lifted we made our way into one of the most famous stores in Copenhagen: The Royal Copenhagen.
The Royal Copenhagen is known for its fine china and hand painted plates. The store is three floors high and we made a point to walk through each one looking at all the Christmas splendor and all of the beautiful china pieces. Though we had been there before (during a pervious summer trip) this time we saw it with new eyes. One of my sisters, Jaimie, works at a pottery establishment and so hearing about how difficult creating each piece and the steps that went into glazing made it a whole new experience.
 |
| Movie in the background showing a little bit of the china process |
Next we went to purchase some supplies for dinner. We bought supplies to make some traditional Danish open faced sandwiches-pickled herring included. After we made the short walk to the apartment that my parents were staying in during their stay.
Day Two
With shops starting to shut down as we were quickly approaching Christmas (celebrated here on the 24th) we made our way once again to Kongens Nytorv to meet Rachel and her husband for coffee and pick up our Danish Christmas dinner.
Instead of opting to take the metro we walked though Copenhagen's winter wonderland. Watching as the streets were being cleared by lovely John Deer tractors, and seeing that the lakes had completely frozen over. A stop at a polse was needed-one of those anybody want pie moments.
 |
| John Deer! |
 |
| The frozen lakes are behind us |
The walk ended when we reached Magasin and had a lovely cup of coffee (no I did not order coffee-still haven't grown a fondness for it) with Rachel and her husband. We chatted about the adventures they were going to have as their plan was to spend Christmas in Finland. Ice swimming was mentioned and later I found out did happen! Next we purchased dinner and took the food back to the apartment.
 |
| Coffee in Magasin |
 |
| Picking out breakfast for the next couple days |
 |
| Grabbing our Christmas feast |
In the evening we made our way to Tivoli. Tivoli opens its doors once again during the winter and displays hundreds of Christmas lights. The snow that had been falling really made everything look picture perfect. Little shops are put up and it's as if a small village is placed in side the park. My mother stopped to get some glog (which ended up being a cider glog) and then we continued on walking through the park.
 |
| This tree was not real, but still very well decorated. |
 |
| The Foster Family |
 |
| Walking through Greenland (where Santa is actually from according to the Danes) |
Christmas Day (Eve)
My mom and dad got me a Christmas tree! The normal Foster family tradition is to go and look for the perfect tree, which in my eyes is something that normally won't actually fit into our house. My dad's idea is that is should be one of the smaller trees. So this year we had s nice small tree :)
 |
| Yes we had candles on the tree |
For our Christmas eve service we went to the church that I've gone to a few times here in Denmark. Though this service was not in English it was still nice to be some where-and quite a few songs were in English.
Then it was time to go home. It was a very long cold journey home. But we finally made it, and for our reward we had a feast of food. And somehow I am always surprised here because I think that there will never be enough food but there always tends to be more than enough.
We even had the traditional Christmas dessert Ris ala mande. It is similar to rice pudding I guess. But it is cream, rice, and sliced almonds. Then you put on a cherry topping. I like it. The tradition also calls for the maker to put one whole almond into the dessert. Then when it is served up everyone at the table is searching for the whole almond-and if someone does find the whole almond they tend to hide it until all of the dessert is gone. As a reward for finding the almond the finder receives a small gift.
 |
| Duck, potatoes, caramelized potatoes, and rodkal. |
 |
| Ris ala mande |
 |
| Jaimie and I did work on the Dessert |
Trip to Oslo!
On Christmas day we had our small bags packed up and we made our way to the docks to catch our ferry boat. Ok I thought it was a ferry boat but it really was a cruise boat. We boarded the boat and quickly found our way to our rooms. That night we ate a feast. There was an all you can eat buffet and you can bet that we did our fair share of eating.
 |
| The Pearl of Scandinavia |
The next morning we work up at 8 (the crew gave the whole boat a lovely wake up call) and from our windows we could see the fjords of Oslo. The boat finally docked and we made our walk into the city. And we went to the National Gallery to catch a glimpse of The Scream by Edvard Munch among other paintings.
We stopped for lunch before we headed back to the boat for the evening. That evening was more or less the same as the one before. We had dinner and more family time which was very hygge :)
Once back in Denmark we were invited to have dinner with the Boels. Before the meal we had a warm glass of glogg and some aebleskiver, then we went for a beautiful walk in the Dyrehaven Park.
The next day we make a small journey out to Langerod to have lunch with one of my dad's colleagues Ian. It was a beautiful ten minute walk with sighting of Icelandic horses.
 |
| Smallest train station in Denmark! |
 |
| Icelandic horses! |
 |
| Yes those are real candles on the tree! |
After leaving Ian's we made our way to Louisiana. No not the state, but rather the Louisiana museum.
The next day we took the train to Lund. Where we walked around this small college city and were able to explore a small church.
 |
| The calendar |
After Lund we made our way to Malmo.
A coffee stop was a must!
The last day that my family was here we went to a small shop called Ofelia to purchase some Danish down comforters. The shop woman was extremely helpful even beyond the blankets. She told me and my family where I could go to buy a rice cooker! Something that I have not been able to find since I've been here (and I must admit I am not the best about cooking rice in the pan).
She even notice my JAL bag and explained how she used to work for that airline. It was so nice to hear her story. Later that night we went to the small China down and found a rice cooker! We also grabbed a little dinner for one last meal together.
It was so nice to have my family here for the holidays. They have already made it back safe and sound to the states. I hope that you have enjoyed the Foster Family Christmas Adventure!
