Friday, December 26, 2008

Glædelig Jul! Merry Christmas!

My very first Danish Christmas! And it was really wonderful! I babysat two little girls on the 23rd and on the morning of the 24th I woke up there, they drove me home and I hung out for a while with Bjarke and Solvej. I finished wrapping the last gifts and then went over to Maria's house (my last host family) to hang out with the boys and talk and eat Christmas candies and coffee. It was so nice! I decked THEIR halls with snowflakes too! (I don't remember if I've mentioned that I've been making A LOT of snowflakes lately? It's good for stress relief!! plus they're really beautiful..) I gave the boys candy and Matador Junior - Monopoly Junior. And Bjarke and Solvej bought them those really annoying toy guns that go "BOOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!" and never stop.. Maria got one too :) I'm just happy they got them AFTER I moved haha.. but they had fun with them!
Then we went over to Bjarke and Solvej's family friends house- Sanne and Jens (the mom and dad) and two girls my age Rie and Lea, who I know. It was so nice! We ate a big Christmas dinner with goose and potatoes and gravy which was really yummy! And then we played the Package Game!
The Package Game- everyone brings a gift (at Rie and Lea's everyone had to buy two stupid gifts) there is a dice that goes around the table. If you get a 6 you can pick a package. When there are no more packages, the timer is set and the dice goes around REALLY fast. You can steal gifts from other people. When the time goes off, the gifts you still have are yours! I won with 4 presents! Including a lifetime supply of tissues. I contributed Depends and a shower cap! hehe..
After the Package Game we ate ris a la mande (mmmmmm) and Sanne won the present! Then we danced around the Christmas tree singing songs!! SO much fun! Hey mom, dad and elliot? you'll be doing it next year! Accept it.. Then we opened presents! OMG I was SO impatient! You know at home how we just rip open the presents because we're so excited? No.. in Denmark it is considered rude to rip open your presents. Each piece of tape must be removed and each flap of paper must be carefully set aside.. I was like "HOLY CRAP JUST OPEN IT!!" haha.. and it was excruciating to be "polite" and take 10 minutes to open one present!
And at about 10 pm I just started balling. I couldn't even feel it coming on.. I just realized how much I missed home. You would too if you were away from home for Christmas. I called my mom and talked to her for a while.. she said and a I quote "Just appreciate it because next time you go to Denmark YOU'LL be paying for it.. not me". You can imagine how THAT made me feel so much better! I love you mom :) And then I called Heather (my pal at home in Alaska) and talked to her for a LONG time. And then you know? My homesickness was gone. I had a massive headache from crying.... but then I was good. And I'm actually really happy to have had my Christmas here in Denmark! It was really wonderful!
Tusen tak Maria og hendes familie, Bjarke og Solvej, og Sanne, Jens, Rie og Lea for en virkelig dejlig jul!

2 comments:

court-knee said...

ahhh paper snowflakes. haha remember freshman year when we decorated the front office and mr.woolnough walked out and made you take them down because they werent semitrical? haha oh mr.woolnough, how much i hate him

Unknown said...

aww you poor thing =[
i'm sorry you were so homesick
but i'm glad you recovered so gracefully!