A Very Belated Holiday Update - Sorry!

It's hard to believe we haven't posted an update since early December! Our only excuse is that real life has taken over and we are settling into work mode. Unlike our year in Paris, our lives in Copenhagen are filled with two full time jobs, regular schedules, and other mundane, normal activities. Unless we make a weekly post on what we've eaten during the week, there often isn't much to report!
That said, we did have a wonderful holiday season, which we should have reported on months ago. Better late than never! So here is our holiday 2010 post, complete with Christmas-y photo of us.

Christmas is a big holiday in Denmark. There are many shared traditions (Christmas tree, work parties, Christmas cookies), but there are also a lot of Danish traditions that were new to us. In Denmark, you put real candles on the Christmas tree! Sounds like a fire hazard to us (in fact, everyone keeps a bucket of water next to the tree for just such a mishap). There is Pakkespil (a fun gift exchange game), nisse (mischievous elves that live in your attic and play practical jokes on you around the holidays), risalamande (a rice pudding with one almond in it, and whoever gets the almond receives a gift), and traditional songs which you sing while holding hands and dancing around the Christmas tree. Bobby and I were especially fond of all the Christmas parties (we attended 4!). At one party, there was a competition to make the best table setting. Bobby, along with others at his table, created this amazing reindeer. Needless to say, his table won!

A friend of mine from work came over to teach me how to cook traditional Danish Christmas cookies. We had a fun time making two different cookies, which we shared at the office. I taught my friend how to make spiced zucchini bread.

After we attended all the great Danish Christmas parties, we headed off to the States to visit our families and partake in some American Christmas traditions. We spent some time in Colorado, where we visited Bobby's family. We also go to briefly see our good friend Wes and Andrea. Bobby stayed in Colorado a few days longer than me, during which Wes taught him to weld. Above is the super-hero photo of Bob the Heroic Welder! Below is Bob (right) with his Colorado family.




After spending time in Colorado, we headed off to California to spend time with my family. We spend New Year's Eve with my Mom and Joseph wine tasting at Bridlewood Winery in Santa Ynez. We had a great time on our first wine tasting! The wines were great and the estate was beautiful.


After our fun times with my Mom, we stayed with my Father and Gloria, where we also had a lot of fun. Gloria lives near a great surf spot in the Los Angeles area, so we finally got some surfing in! However, it soon became obvious that we are really, really out of surfing shape. The 6 foot waves were just too big for us, so we stayed on the inside and splashed around like newbie kooks. We had fun though, and it was really nice to get back in the water.
We had a wonderful holiday season, both in Denmark and in the USA. Our fun doesn't stop there, though! We have several long weekend trips planned for the next 6 months, including one that is happening very soon! So stay tuned to read more about our adventures.