Snow

It is nothing compared to 17 inches in Indiana but it snowed last night. I had to take out the old showel and spend about 5 min. removing the flurries on the ground. It looked nice but didn't last long. Was that all the winter for Denmark?

I also made it

Bragging really isn't part of my nature but I'm so happy that I was able to learn downhill skiing. It took a lot of talking and consideration before both Ellen and I felt it safe to test and see if the old legs could manage it. They did. And it was just wauw....

Awesome

Another picture from our vacation. The nature was just spectular.

Stöten 2009

It's a bit overdue but last week was just tremendously busy. We had a great week skiing in Sweden. It was super luck to have 2 feet of snow just before we arrived to the place. The temperatures were mostly ok. The last two days it did get a bit on the cold side. When Rita and I made it up to the hill in the morning it was -16 C. Made your hair freeze. It was pretty amazing because the temperature rose as we took the lift up the mountain. At the top it was -0,5 C. It was like walking into a living room!

More pictures will follow when I've emptied Ellens camera.

41

Happy birthday, Ellen. Typical Danish early birthday breakfast with morning hair and all :-)

Birthday disco dance

Rita went to a birthday party last night. She brought her "fur" and was quite the lady at the dance. And she was a tired girl when she returned after 9 PM.

Beak fish

Axel's class got the exciting job to make a sculpture of a prehistoric petrified fantasy animal. Axel made this beak fish. It weighs about 2 pounds ( 1 kg.) and gets to a certain age. I can't remember the habitat or breeding habits. It's all put down in the description at the exhibition.

Axel didn't care for the picture on the top and insisted I also uploaded the one below. Which do you like the best?

Little chefs

We went to Cecilia's birthday Saturday. It didn't take long for Axel and David to decide that David should come to our house and stay the night. It ended up being a very enjoyable day because the boys decided to cook supper: Meatballs, rice and gravy. It wouldn't be Axel cooking with out sauce.

Giant candle

I have been lazy on the blog but here is a quick update with a picture of Rita and her homemade Christmas gift to us - a yard long candle. Unfortunately it didn't last long. It burned very quickly. But it must have taken some patience to dip it so many times to get the candle that lang.

2nd day of Christmas

We celebrated the second day of Christmas at Merete's place - a new Qvistgaard tradition. We had crawfish the Swedish way with toast and cheese. It was fun.

December 24

With 6 billions souls to please Santa is busy so he has to get an early start. When we woke up this morning the kids found bunches of gifts under the tree - thanks to Grandma & Gary, uncle Paul and family and Uncle Rick and family. And Santa had found just the right things - the newest album from Metallica, wii games and legos. Thanks all.

Well, now it's Christmas and this advent calendar has come to an end.

We wish all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

December 23

The tree is up and decorated. So now we just count the days.

December 22

It's a tradition for us to take a drive before Christmas to look at Christmas lights. This year we came upon this house where a father and son has set up a fantastic show. It is unusual in a Danish context. They have build the computer controlling the lights from scratch as well as the FM transmitter sending the music to the radio.

You can see a video of the show here.

December 21

3 days until Christmas and I managed to fulfill a year old promise to the children - ice skating downtown. It was a first for all kids. Rita was magnificent. She had hardly got the skates on before she was flying about. The boys were quick learners too. I could certainly feel, it was ages since I had had skates on. I believe it was as a sophomore in Waukesha. I managed and fell only once.

December 20

We had one big concern: "Will it fit?" There is nothing as frustrating as a tree that does not touch the ceiling when you come home.

December 19

One of the more peculiar finds I stumpled over the other day - snail caviar. Ellen has already declared it is not an item for Christmas dinner. But what about New Years.

Further description is here:http://www.caviar-escargot.com/en/caviar-escargot.html

December 18

Serious business. Axel found a webpage where we could view videos of the fireworks we can buy for New Years Eve. This is an important task that takes a lot of deliberation and planning.

December 17

Now we are done with all the Christmas preparations except for getting the Christmas tree. Merete and her two girls came over to make marcipan and chocolates. Yummy!

December 16

Christmas concert in Rita's music class

December 15

"Klejner" is Erik's favorite Christmas cookie. It is also the most laborintensive cookie. The dough is very tough and sticky (it contains a lot of eggs). It has to be rolled out paper thin. We usually say you have to be able to read a newspaper through it. Then it is cut and braided. Finally, it's deep fried in palm oil. As mentioned it is laborsome and time consuming. I had hoped we could talk Erik out it this year, but he was persistent. So we took time yesterday to make a bunch. And they are good. Crisp, crunchy and sweet. Yummy.