A Very Expat Christmas

We didn't have a particularly Danish Christmas this year.

Instead of celebrating on the 24th, as they do here, we kept with American and English tradition and celebrated our low-key Christmas on the 25th.  My husband made an amazing duck for lunch, plus Christmas pudding with home-made custard, and for dinner I made some steak and potatoes.  I got my husband the Game of Thrones books box set, so we both spent much of the day reading.

It should be noted that I am still on book one, which we bought several months ago, while he is now more than 300 pages into book 2, having started reading it yesterday.

In other quasi-literary (well, not really) news, we spent the evening of the 23rd out to dinner and a movie with a classmate and her husband.  We went to go see The Hobbit (or "Hobbitten," as it's called here).

I've come to expect the Danish subtitles when going to an English language film here, but I tend to forget that any parts of the film in any other language (say... Elvish for example) would also only have Danish subtitles.  So, I found myself putting my Danish lessons to good use during this one, and surprised myself with hour much I was able to understand.  There were still plenty of words that I didn't understand, but I understood enough to figure out what was going on.

As far as the movie itself, my husband and I agreed: It was a fairly good movie that couldn't decide which audience to play to.  The book is basically a kids book, and the way the movie started, I thought perhaps the movie was going to play more towards a younger audience too.  But as it went on, it got darker and more graphic, and it seemed to fall into the same feel as the Lord of the Rings movies.  Despite that, though, we definitely enjoyed it.

Next, we'll start watching seasons 2 and 3 of The Killing (or "Forbrydelsen").

With English subtitles, of course.

Holiday Advice for Men

Well, it's just after 11am in Denmark on December 21, 2012, and so far the world hasn't come to an end.

So, that's good.

Since it seems pretty likely that Christmas is, in fact, coming this year, and those of you who were banking on the End Times may have some last second holiday shopping to do, let me offer up a tiny bit of holiday advice.

Now, I don't know if women do this, but I've known at least a couple of men who have this one very bad habit right around the holidays (or their birthday):

They go out and buy things for themselves.  Or, they may mention in passing that they plan to buy something for themselves.  Something that they may have also, in passing, mentioned to their wife or girlfriend that they might want.

You know how when you're having a fight with a woman, she seems to have this uncanny ability to remember tiny details of past conversations and bring them up?  Well, that superpower also can be used for good.  Like... remembering that you mentioned you wanted something months ago, and then getting it for you for your birthday or Christmas when you've completely forgotten even mentioning it.

This may not be true for all people, but I think most people like their gifts to be a surprise.  That's why we wrap them, after all, isn't it?

So, if you don't want to put someone in the awkward position of having to explain why you REALLY, REALLY shouldn't buy yourself that specific thing just before Christmas...

Just hold off for a few days.  Give it until December 26th, at least.

You might be glad you did.

Christmas in Denmark: First Impressions

Back home in America, the Christmas season starts earlier and earlier each year.  As early as September, stores are putting out Christmas decorations or stocking the shelves with holiday-related kitsch.

And every year, radio stations have an unofficial race to see who can switch to 24-hour Christmas music first.  Once they do, all of the other stations who'd planned to do so rush to change their format until after the New Year.

And don't get me started on the ridiculousness of Black Friday.

As I'm sure a lot of Americans will agree, the holidays can be an extremely stressful time.  Have to get the best gifts for the best price, have to find something unique, have to impress the family and the friends and bake (or buy, in my case) more cookies and pies than necessary.

Call me a Scrooge if you will, but it's been a while since I was actually a fan of Christmas.

In Denmark, though, it seems to me a much nicer thing.  A few tasteful decorations go up here and there in November, but most wait until December 1.  And the decorations that do go up are so much less garish.  It just strikes me as a much more subdued, tasteful thing, and less of a competition to see who has the most "cheer."

As far as Christmas traditions in Denmark, I don't really know much about them yet.  I can tell you that Danes generally do their celebrating on Christmas Eve, as opposed to Christmas Day.

And then there is the company Julefrokost.

I have yet to experience one myself, but these are Christmas parties hosted by companies all over Denmark.  Technically, "Julefrokost" means "Christmas lunch," but it's generally more of an afternoon-into-evening-into-early-morning kind of thing.

And they're notorious.

It's traditional for employees and their bosses to eat and drink more than is good for them, and to act out.  Rumors abound about how the divorce rate jumps up right after Christmas because of all of the Julefrokost indiscretions, and how bosses and employees are known to regularly hook up at these parties and then never speak of it again.

I'm sure that's the case at some of them.  In general, though, it sounds a bit like a "big fish" story to me. People love to appear to have a wilder life than they actually have.

This Danish Christmas season started with a little bit of snow here in Copenhagen, so I thought I'd share the latest picture of our puppy, Wooster.  Here he is, enjoying his first snow day:

Obligatory Christmas Post

It's Christmas Eve, and we are at my parents' house for the weekend.

While my mother's side of the family did grow up Catholic, we aren't an especially religious family, so we celebrate more out of tradition than anything else.  We used to celebrate Hanukkah as well, since my father comes from a Jewish background, but that seemed to fall by the wayside when I was a teenager.

Let me paint a picture, if I may, of the scene right now:

My mother is in the dining room piping out little colored circles onto parchment paper.  Little circles that will soon be some seriously delicious French macaroons.  In the fridge is a roll of chocolate cake and delicious filling that will, tomorrow, become a realistic edible Yule log, complete with merengue  mushrooms and pistachio moss.

In the living room, my dad, my fiance and I are all sitting on the couches.

Each typing on our own separate Macbooks.

As far as Christmas traditions go, we don't have many.  What we generally do is open gifts in the morning on Christmas day, then drive down to my aunt's house.  Once there, we will drink Manhattans and eat until we can barely move.

As far as traditions go, it's not too shabby.

Merry Christmas, all.  And happy Hanukkah.

And a happy Festivus.  For the rest of us.

A "Business Casual" Christmas

As I think most of us were as kids, I was pretty unaware of class differences when I was young.  I grew up in a fairly affluent area, but I didn't really realize it until I left.  Moving to a town like Buffalo as an adult will give you a real sense of perspective.

That being said, we're a pretty casual family.  We dress up when appropriate, but I'd argue that we're generally a casual, jeans-wearing bunch.

And very few people are as casual as radio people.  The argument is that no one sees us anyway, so why dress up?  That's why we're often found not just in jeans, but often in sweatpants and hats.  I happen to be wearing that uniform right now, actually.

So, when we were headed to a small company Christmas party at the house of a coworker of my fiance's, and we were told dress was "casual," well I thought jeans and a sweater would be great.  Thought my sneakers wouldn't stand out at all.

Boy, was I wrong.

For this "casual" Christmas party, they'd hired someone to come play Christmas songs on the grand piano in their livingroom...

To be fair, I may be the only one who noticed the difference, but it seems that when wealthy folks say "casual," they really mean "business casual."  All of the women were in slacks and nice shoes and sweaters.  The men wore button-down shirts and slacks, and one was even wearing a matching jacket.

Everyone there was perfectly nice, but I've rarely felt so out of place.

Sing it with me now: "One of these things is not like the other."