Christmas 2014

It´s all over for another year! We had a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas Eve, and we started our Christmas celebrations with a delicious brunch. Then it was off to church for the 2pm service. The church service was short but the message was good and challenging and we got to sing a whole lot of lovely Danish Christmas Carols. 

It was then home to Kristian´s sisters. The family would gather there to celebrate Christmas together. All Kristian´s brothers and sisters were coming together with their families to celebrate, except for Peter, the very youngest brother. He was going to his wife´s family. We also had a few foreigners celebrating with us so we were a total of 26. Good job Hanne has a big house!!

We started the afternoon with Danish treats, then a bit of a sing song. When Kristian´s family get together we always end up singing! It was just sooo special. Sitting around singing about the birth of Jesus and just worshipping together was the best part for me.

For the family (or anyone else interested) here is a short video clip of Sigrid og Signe singing (with the rest of us on the chorus).....

Then it was time to get everything ready for the evening meal. We were all in different work groups. Some had to decorate the tree. Others decorated the table. Some made sweets from marcipan and nougat. I was on the dinner team so we had to cook the food. It all went like clockwork and everything turned out well. 

After dinner we played our usual parcel game with all the silly presents. 

Then it was time for dessert and then the part I love, walking around the Christmas tree singing carols. 

Finally it was gift time. This year a woman bought another woman a present and a man another man. I came home with a beautiful new scarf! 

We were finally home around 1.00am after a really wonderful evening with the family.

Then 25th it was our day here at home. Even though we have big kids they still love Christmas and getting presents, especially their sock!

We all had a lovely long sleep. We first woke at 10.30am and the kids shortly after us. What a surprise I had when I walked into the kitchen. The ground outside was covered in snow!! I couldn´t believe my eyes! On Christmas Eve we had talked about how wonderful it would be to wake up to snow, but never expected it to happen. We have had such a mild winter with temperatures around 6-8 degrees.  I felt sooo blessed to wake up to snow! It was the perfect weather for Christmas day!

The kids and Kristian were all really pleased with their gifts and so was I. 

 Andrew had wished for a playstation 4 but did not expect to get one. That was his only gift but he was over the moon!

Then it was into the kitchen to once again prepare a big dinner, this time with turkey and ham and all the trimmings. We had invited our American neighbour, her daughter and her American friend over to eat with us. 

The day ended with us all collapsed on the sofa. We watched a couple of Christmas films and even had a good cry at one of them. Just the way a Christmas day should be!

Sara went back home on Christmas night. She was taking the 7pm bus. It was sooo great to have her here for the week. It all just went by sooo fast! But we will go visit her in January so only a few weeks till we see each other again!

So all that´s left to say is.....Merry Christmas from our family to yours......

It´s Christmas

and I am feeling nostalgic. In fact I have been feeling like this for a few weeks now. 

It all started with a box of marcipan. I saw a box in the supermarket and without thinking, I lifted it to buy it for my Aunt Kathleen. She loved marcipan. After putting it in my trolley it hit me that she wasn´t here anymore. I just felt so sad. 

Then a few days later I heard the song "Silver Bells". Dad used to listen to that song alot. In fact he had a record with Christmas songs sung by Jim Reeves. My mum loved him singing and we always had that record playing. That one song (Silver Bells) awakened sooo many great memories.

I went on Spotify to see if I could find the album and I did. I lay in bed listening to it one evening and all the songs sparked off a memory. When Kristian came in I was propped up in the bed sobbing my eyes out. The tears were a mixture of joy and sadness. Joy over the wonderful memories that the songs brought back but sadness over not having my mum or dad, my brother or any of my aunts and uncles around anymore. 

I have been thinking of them alot over the last few weeks and it has made me very thankful for the family and the life that I had growing up. 

Another Christmas is just around the corner and it´s time to make new memories, memories that I hope my children can look back on with fondness. 

All the shops are now closed in Denmark. Tomorrow (24th) is the big day for celebrating. I am soooo looking forward to Christmas with my Danish family. (We will be 26 of Kristian´s family gathered together!) Everything is organised and ready for tomorrow and the 25th. It´s a good feeling to be ready for it all.

Already this weekend we have done a bit of celebrating. Since Chrsitian was going home today so he can spend Christmas with his family, he and Sara decided to exchange gifts last night. We also decided to give him ours.

 I dressed up in my elf top.....

 It is sooo funny to see Sara at Christmas. She is still like a wee child!

Full house....

Sara arrived Friday evening. It is sooo good to have her home again! Only Kristian and I were home Friday evening when she arrived and we enjoyed having her all to ourselves for a few hours. I think she enjoyed it too!

Saturday afternoon Sara´s Christian arrived. He will stay with us until Tuesday before travelling home again to hold Christmas with his family. Andrew´s Camilla also came to visit Saturday afternoon so once again the dining room table was full to overflowing! We had such a lovely Saturday together.

It really has been all go here the last few days. Everyone is busy getting the last bit of shopping done. In the middle of the madness I heard a song that I just fell in love with  I have been playing it none stop the last few days (to everyones annoyance!!) It helps me focus again on what is important at this time of the year.

If you want to have a listen just click the video.....

The song is in Danish but it is basically talking about how at Christmas we are all busy doing what we need to do but yet in the midst of all our plans we need to stop and think about that Christmas is not about me or us but about Jesus. I love the chorus. It translates like this..." it´s all about you, the day you became a man, came in your glory, it´s all about you the day you came down here, brought peace and love with you. Christmas is all about you Jesus."

A good reminder for me, in these last few days up to Christmas, to remember the real meaning of the season.

Berlin.....

....was fantastic!!

Been a busy few weeks and our trip to Berlin now seems soooo long ago. We had a fantastic time! It will not be the last time we visit that city. So much to see, so much history and soooo many great shopping centres!! Going at the start of December was just perfect as we got to see the many Christmas markets. There was such a Christmasy atmosphere everywhere. 

We left Denmark on Tuesday 2 December in the evening. We arrived at the airport expecting to be waiting in line for ages to leave off our bags, however to our surprise the airport was actually nearly empty! I have NEVER seen the airport like this. 

The flight to Berlin was only 50 minutes. Kristian and I both fell asleep at take off.  We woke up 10 minutes later, or so we thought. However we soon realised that we were actually landing! Very pleasant surprise! 


Our hotel was just great! Really central and close to the train station and O2 world which was perfect as we were going to see Bryan Adams there.

 Our wee bathroom

 The dining room

 Hallway up to our room....

Wednesday morning we were up early, yet not too early, we were after all on our holidays! After a delicious breakfast in the hotel we headed out to explore the area. We walked miles that day!! 

We visited Berlin Catherdral and The DDR museum. While looking at the different displays in the museum the fire alarm went off and so we had to leave the building so we only got half way through the exhibition.

 It was sooo cold in the Berlin. Denmark is having a very mild winter with temperatures around 7 or 8 degrees. In Berlin it was -3 on that first day. Baltic!! 

 We were looking forward to our concert in the O2 which was literally just 5 minutes walk from our hotel. Perfect!

 We found Primark!!

  We really enjoyed the day walking around and seeing the different sites but we were more looking forward to that evening and our Bryan Adams concert. We were not disappointed. It was absolutely brilliant!! That man can still rock! We sang our hearts out to the songs, we felt like we were 21again although our feet, legs and body felt about 80 after all the walking we had done! 

Thursday morning came and we were ready to explore again. We decided we would eat breakfast out in town. We headed, on the train this time, to Alexanderplatz which was only 3 stops away. It was also sooo cheap to ride on the trains.

We decided to go up and see the view from the TV tower. If seats were available we would eat breakfast in the restaurant. To our surprise seats were available and we got the perfect window seat. 

 The views were amazing. The restaurant actually turns while you sit there. So cool!!

 The food was amazing too...

 A content and full Kristian...

We then headed down to Check Point Charlie. There I met these two guys. They had a good sense of humour so we had a bit of fun with them.

We checked out the exhibition too, it really is worth a visit. It told the stories of real people, some unfortuately lost their lives. Others lived to tell their story.

From Check Point Charlie we walked to Potsdamn Platz. We had heard about a huge shopping centre there and to my joy - we found it 

 The Christmas decorations were beautiful.

We headed back to Alexandersplatz and found a great restaurant for dinner. Then we went to explore the Christmas markets. Sooo beautiful with all the lights and the different smells of food. We loved walking around these.

Friday we were heading home again but before leaving we got a wee bit of shopping in.

Our favourite shopping centre was in Alexandraplatz - 4 stories of shops and our favourite shop was this Media Markt, an electronic shop! We both LOVE electronic shops! Good job they didn´t take visa or mastercard!! Too many temptations in there! 

Find Kristian.....

 There was time for one last meal before heading to the airport. 

We certainly made some great memories on this trip! Now I can´t wait to give him the next few silver envelopes. Some great ideas and a few great surprises coming up!! :-)  The only problem is life is too busy at the moment and I can´t seem to fit one in, but January is coming!