Of fireworks and blind people

Yesterday we broke in our Christmas gift from Grandma and Gary - a annual family ticket for the Experimentarium (comparable to the Childrens museum although with focus on science). We had a grand day were we tested the speed of sound. "Talk into one tupe and test how long it takes before you hear it at the end", the sign said. Rita really enjoyed the exhibitions were you could try how it is to be blind. It was a pitch black room where you had to feel your way through. The boys got excited about the fireworks show. In the show we saw fireworks but also heard about the science behind it. Fascinating!

It was a great gift. Thank you Grandma and Gary!

Finally Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve last night. This years big present was a Wii we had bought in Berlin. The kids were excited. We have spent most of the day bowling, golfing and playing baseball. I'm certain we have burned off all the calories we got at the Christmas dinner last night.

The last day before Christmas

It is amazing Santa came with gifts from the US during the night. Rita and Axel were up early checking out the gifts under the tree. Thank you all for the little dog, the girl's book, rubi cube, Colts watches, soup, Jack's Snowman and the Star Wars book! (Grandma and Gary's gifts comes this evening).

Alas we didn't win anything on the lottery tickets -not even the smallest prize. And we had 6 chances!

Now we are looking forward to Christmas Eve. We will go to church at 4 PM and then it is home to roast duck and pork. We will, naturally, conclude with living candles on the tree, singing and gifts.

Christmas is wonderful.

On the second day before Christmas

We had a wonderful evening. Dinner was cold cuts and lobster soup. We read the last chapter in the book we've been reading for Christmas. And then we played Tripoley. Axel was happy he won. Rita was certain she heard Santa on his sleigh. They are all so excited. I wonder when they will fall asleep.

Hot news flash

- - - This is a quick news update in between the picture entrees - - -

We just scraped our lottory tickets and although we didn't win we now how 6 chances of winning tomorrow: Ellen has 8 Santas (50.000 dkr), 6 drums (1.000 dkr) and 4 Christmas candles (100 dkr); I have 9 Christmas trees (1.000.000 dkr), 8 Santas and 3 Glass ornaments (40 dkr). We are bound to win and hopefully not just with the ornaments :-)

On the third day before Christmas

We went to the Royal Theatre to see the Nutcracker. It was a whole new production. The scenography was spectacular as was the costumes. The kids really enjoyed it - and so did we. On the way home from Copenhagen we came by this house were the whole front yard was decorated with lights and Santas, reindeers and what not. We had to stop and take a look. Now we really are in the Christmas spirits.

On the 4th day before Christmas

We celebrated pre-Christmas with my parents and Merete and her daughters. Before exhanging presents we had a good game of bingo. Felicia was happy she won two times! We had a fun evening and - as usual- plentty of good food.

On the 5th day before Christmas

The excitement is rising. Nine Christmas tree have now been uncovered on the lottery ticket. And we are only missing 2 Santas on the other ticket which holds a prize of 50.000 kr. The kids are very excited. Keep your fingers crossed that we win on at least one of the tickets!

- - - - -
I have to correct myself. We are only missing 1 Santa!

On the 6th day before Christmas

Rita went to the dentist and had a baby tooth removed. The permanent tooth had started growing up behind it and didn't push the baby tooth out. It was kind of awesome to have a kid with sharks' teeth as long as it lasted. Rita did very good at the dentist. She just lay there and let him do the work.

On the 7th day before Christmas

We celebrated the 3rd Sunday of Advent a day late due to our Berlin tour. We keep it a tradition to take some time off in the evening and prepare for Christmas singing Christmas songs and reading the Christmas Gospel.

On the 8th day of Christmas

It is in the middle of winter and we have this rose blooming in the front yard. In the news we hear of deathly snowstorms in the US. My wish for the new year is that the world's nations will be able to find a political solution to global warming and prevention of climate changes.

On the 9th day before Christmas

We had to say good bye to Berlin. It had been a fun and very enjoyable weekend in Germany. Last night we witnessed the Santas on wheels parade - it was a huge parade of santas on motor cycles riding down the center of Berlin. We also had to give our farewell to all the plastic bears placed all over the city. It definitely won't be our last visit. Next time we bring the kids with us.

More from Berlin

... and we had ice cream fondue.

On the 10th day before Christmas

We went sightseeing in Berlin. We saw the place of the Berlin wall and
did our giftshopping in Ka De We and the nicest little markt at
Ku'Dam. The kids will be happy!

On the 11th day before Christmas

Ellen and I enjoyed glühwein and a yard long bratwurst in Berlin. The glühwein was served in mugs that looked like a Christmas stocking.

On the 12th day before Christmas

Axel hung up the Christmas ornament he got from Grandma this year. Thank you Grandma and Gary!

On the 13th day before Christmas

Erik and Rita made butter cookies. The recipe should have made 100 cookies. We only got 30. But they are good! Now, I must admit I was happy it was Ellen's turn to do laundry.

On the 14th day before Christmas

Axel and Ellen made bourbon balls. You can trust Ellen to make enough so that they will last until Christmas although Axel did his best to challenge that.

On the 15th day before Christmas

The excitement is rising. Six Christmas Trees are we up to in the Christmas. And we have almost two weeks to get the last four. It is certain to be a winner.

1.000.000 Danish kroner, now what kind of Christmas gifts could we get for that amount of money?

On the 16th day before Christmas

It was time to decorate the Christmas tree. All three kids were dedicated to make it the best looking tree ever. Each spent a good part of the time trying to find the decorations Grandma has given to each of them. And it is beautiful.

We did put the tree up after a good lunch, but I'm certain this is not the cause of the tree's lack of straightness.

On the 17th day before Christmas

We got our Christmas tree. We went to a near by plantation and cut it ourselves. According to tradition it is 8 feet tall and must be cut quite a bit to fit in the livingroom. What would life be without traditions.

On the 18th day before Christmas

Ellen and Rita scraped the lotto Christmas calendar and got a Christmas tree. Nine more of these and we will win the grand price of 1 million Danish kroner.

On the 19th day of Christmas

We all got gifts from Saint Nick. These included among other things:

• Christmas pudding
• Oreo cookies
• English Ale
• Fresh Figs
• Licorice pipes
• Brandy butter
• Cactus fruit
• Chocolate
• Ale sirup
• and pickled cod liver.

Thank you Saint Nick!

On the 20th day before Christmas

Erik and I saw FCK loose 2-0 to Atletico Madrid. Unfortunately FCK wasn't even near to win the game.

On the 21st day before Christmas

The kids made Christmas decorations.

On the 22nd day before Christmas

Rita helps Fr. Leo hanging up the advent wreath at church.

On the 23rd day before Christmas

Erik rushed to his calendar when he woke up this morning around 11 AM (so he wasn't more proud than that). He looks very happy for the tickets for the UEFA game between FCK and Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

Just 24 more days

Rita and Axel were early out of their beds. They knew it was the first day of December and somewhere in the house there would be a Christmas calendar with their names on it as is the Danish tradition. Axel got a thing ma jigger and Rita a toothbrush. Erik thinks he is too old for a daily calendar so he has to wait until tomorrow to see if he gets an advent gift.

40

I had a great birthday yesterday. We celebrated it with my parents, Merete and the girls. Ellen and the kids had made brunch with lots of bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs, fresh baked rolls, cheese and you name it. It was very good!

David sent 40 e-mails with birthday wishes. It took some time to answer each mail.

Now we are looking forward to the big birthday party in January.

Poisonous Pie

Some time back Axel had stumpled over The Witch's Handbook at the library. He's really enjoyed all the secret advises and spells. Yesterday came the time to experiment with some of the recipies. We had poisonous pie made with mushrooms, onion and boiled egg. Axel was responsible for decorating the pie. He did a good job and we survived! (it was very good).

Surf's Up

The movie Surf's Up has premiere in Denmark next weekend. My uncle Alfred invited Erik, Rita and Axel to a sneak preview yesterday where they were able to shake hands with Cody. They all seemed to enjoy the movie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Programme:

1. Welcome
2. Food
3. Growns up talk and children play
4. Musik
5. Dessert
6. Coffee and good company
7. The end

Last night we celebrated Thanksgiving. Axel made the programme and we followed it strictly.

As usual we had a lot of fun with my parents and our friends: David, Nadya and Marik and Maria, Zulu, Lukas, David and Cecilia. Unfortunately Merete and her girls weren't able to join us this year.

The last couple of years we have debated how and when Thanksgiving became an official holiday. This year Ellen once and for all gave the official explanation. You can find it here.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Father weekend

Axel and I went on "father weekend" with Axel's school class. We had a lot of fun. Axel and his very good friend Hannah fed each other flødeboller blind folded - it was just a bit messy. Last night we had a bon fire in the forrest. It was cold but very special. We sang songs and enjoyed each others company.

Peas....NOT!

Tonight Axel got so fed up with the green peas for supper. He stood up and went straight to the kitchen. He fetched the shopping list on the kitchen table and put down cabbage. "I'm so tired of all those boring vegetables. Give me something good to eat!" I doubt any of his friends would even touch cabbage :-)

161,5

Erik is now officially taller than Ellen - 1 cm!

Happy Halloween

Pumpkin time! Today my sister Merete visited us with Edith and Felicia to cut Jack'o'lanterns. It's always fun to see all five kids together.

Fall break

We are back home from Sweden. We had a relaxing week in the house in Broslät. It was beautiful fall weather. "The forrest is on fire" was Erik's poetic comment to the color of the forrest - a lot of beach and birch in yellow, orange and light green. It was spectacular!

Copenhagen night of culture

Last night we went downtown to be part of the Copenhagen night of culture. One of the events was to experience the botanical gardens in candle light. The scouts had set up these lanterns which was a wooden log with burning from the inside. We enjoyed the gardens, it was special but very crowded!

Not since Prague

If Grandma had been here the boys would have had their hair cut long ago. However, ever since our old haircutter retired the boys and I have had a hard time finding the right place to get a decent haircut. Last haircut was when were were together with Grandma and Gary in Prague. Today it became too much for all of us. So after school the boys on their own hand went to the local hairdresser and had it fixed. To document the result Erik sent this picture on the phone.

Royal ballet

This afternoon we went to the Royal Theatre to see the ballet: The Red Balloon. It was actually 3 ballets - all with pupils from the ballet school at the theatre. Unfortunately, Ellen was away at school, so we had Hannah, Axel's friend, with us. All seemed to enjoy it. The old theatre is really beautiful and I believe all the kids were taken with it especially the grand chandelier in the main room.

When we got home it turned out Rita had fever - 40 C/104 F. Nonetheless, she seemed to have had a good time.

Ch ch ch changes

Another Saturday spent in Ikea. This time Erik and I went looking for a new bed. This summer Ellen and I have talked a lot about, how and if we could get Erik his own room. One day he told us, he would be happy if he could have a real bed instead of the bunk. Well, his wish is now granted. And Rita was just too pleased to inherit Erik's old bed. Now we just have to figure out what to do with all Rita's stuff. We had to take out a couple of book cases to make room for the bed. Perhaps we'll pay another visit to Ikea next weekend...

Ikea

Both Erik and Axel have now grown so tall that their pants take up too much room in the drawers. So for quite a while we've been needing a replacement. Today we went to Ikea and bought a couple of cupboards. We had measured the room but not the car! It was a tight fit going home. Tomorrow we'll put up the cupboards. Then we'll see if there's any pieces missing.

- - - - -
The language police just informed me it's a wardrope and not a cupboard we bought :-)

Ghost

Spectacular! It looks a ghost. It's foam whippen up in a little inlet near a waterfall.

Kobberhättan

We spent the weekend in the summerhouse in Sweden. We took the tour around Kobberhättan which is the top of a steep ravine in the central part of Skåne. It's a national park which is kept preserved as a decidious forrest. The forrest is outstanding. It's in the middle of nowhere though. We were therefore surprised to meet a lot of Asian tourists.

Fortune

This weekend Ellen is away for the first time on her new study. The rest of us at home have to make things work. Last night Erik and Rita made pizza (from scratch) while Axel and I went to gym class. When I came home both Rita and Erik were busy in the kitchen. Erik frying baking. Rita standing on a chair cutting and chopping tomatoes, cucumbers etc. for the salat. The pizza was perfect! Thick crust and crunchy.

Today Rita made outmeal balls. We will taste them tonight while watching TV. Can't wait!

New outfit

My aunt gave us a bag full of hats. It didn't take Rita long to find a proper use for her new apparel.