Welcome back to My Danish Christmas Advent Calendar!
24 DECEMBER
Woop, woop – it’s here! 24 December and we are ready to say “God Jul!”
I started off the day – as I do most mornings – with a skinny dip in the Danish North Sea. The weather was been extremely mild this December, with an average air temperature of 6c (42f) and water temperature 3c (37f). Here we are…fresh out of the refreshing, cold water! 
We’ll probably have a fairly light lunch of various sild (pickled herrings) and tarteletter, followed by the æbleskiver (Danish Christmas donuts) my husband made, and some gløgg (Danish mulled wine).
Christmas in Denmark officially starts around 6pm on the 24th of December with dinner…
Our dinner is always roast duck, warm red cabbage, a fresh red cabbage and carrot slaw, caramelised potatoes, boiled potatoes, warm potato crisps and lots of yummy sovs (gravy).
Dessert – as tradition dictates – is ris à l’amande (cold rice pudding with hot cherry sauce). Who’s going to find the almond and win the marcipan pig? It’s anyone’s guess!
Anyway, on to the main event of the evening for the kids…the present opening! Um – no – hold on! We have to dance round the tree first! Yep, we all join hands and dance and sing around the Christmas tree. Normally we sing “Nu er det jul igen!“, “Jingle Bells” and “Højt fra træets grønne top!”
And then the presents can be opened! One at a time, slowly, at random. So that everybody can see who got what from whom. Which makes for a loooooooong process. For us, it usually takes about two hours…
And after all that? Then we collapse onto the sofa, dig into the konfekt (homemade sweets), finish off the wine and down a refreshing, cold Danish Christmas beer… Skål! Cheers!
And – hey – thank you for joining me for my Danish Christmas Advent Calendar! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about those crazy Danes and their fantastic month long Christmas…
God Jul! Merry Christmas!
Diane
God Jul and Merry Christmas to you and yours. I have loved reading your Danish Christmas blog.
Diane, Merry Christmas to you and your family from cold and snowy Wisconsin. Your great blog has warmed our hearts this Christmas season. It was like being back home. Thanks again and have a Happy New Year!!
Many thanks, Norma and Mark! Glædelig (bag)Jul! 😀
Came across this by accident and was so interesting. As we are danes here in New Brunswick Canada (the largest danish colony in canada)we follow the same tradition. Finding your posting was so exciting. My wife Margaret is from Manchester England. Hope to hear from you again with more information. Even though I am a dane I was born here in New Denmark. The best to you and yours this time of year. Fred Jensen
Loved following your Christmas celebrations! Miss you sweet Twister!
HELLO.I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW SOME INFORMATION ABOUT CULTURE&SUBCULTURE DANISH PEOPLE AND THEIR LIFESTYLE. Thanks
Miss you too, Lynn! 🙂
Hi Fred – what a lovely story! I normally post here twice a week about my love of Denmark and 'those crazy Danes', so keep your eyes peeled… Happy New Year when it comes!
Hi Bahram – lots of info here on the denmark.dk website, so take a good look around 🙂
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