Christmas 2014 in Denmark

This Christmas holiday has been an unusual one for us, but it's been good.  Celebrating away from our own home feels different, but celebrating in a different continent is even more so. We had two of our sons visiting for a few weeks,  and we loved spending time together in Norway and  celebrating Christmas with our family who live in Denmark. Aspiring to some minimalism this year, I scavenged our neighborhood for the branches for a Christmas tree in our apartment. All the decorations are handmade except the Estonian woman in her national costume.  

A few days before Christmas, we flew to Copenhagen to be with our family there. One day before the Christmas celebrations, Sten and I took the train into Copenhagen and just enjoyed walking around.  Pictured below are views of the main shopping/walking street, people enjoying a hot drink and lunch outside (it was about 0 C or 32 F), the harbor, and the design museum.

Our Danish family enjoy the tradition of beginning Christmas celebrations the first Sunday of Advent with the lighting of one candle of four, and then lighting one more each successive Sunday until Christmas eve.  They bring in their fresh Christmas tree the day before Christmas eve (which is called Lille Juleaften or Little Christmas Eve).  

They also enjoy a special family meal together which includes risengrød -- rice porridge. This year one of the dishes included was a roast pumpkin salad with spinach and goat cheese.  I found the recipe on a wonderful website of Swedish cooking videos that I thoroughly enjoy watching.  I recommend you check them out.  The salad was absolutely delicious. Here's their web address:   http://www.homegrownswedes.com/Roast-Pumpkin.

I noticed that both in Norway and in Denmark the preferred Christmas trees are a different variety than is usually favored at home in the U.S.  Ours are more solidly pyramidal whereas as the Scandinavian ones are less thickly branched with clear layers of branches. This makes their trees work well for live candles, which is how our family light theirs.  The candle holders are designed so when the candle gets close to the holder, the flame goes out, and they are designed to balance over a tree branch with a counterweight hanging below the candle. 

Christmas eve in the afternoon most of us attended the church service in Copenhagen's Cathedral  Church of Our Lady with beautiful music provided by their boy choir. There was standing room only in the church (Mor was the only one of us who got to sit). I found it interesting that the pews face each other rather than all facing the front of the church. The service was a beautiful reminder of the true meaning of Christmas  -- why we celebrate in the first place. 

 

Back home again Christmas eve's meal was prepared. My sister-in-law had everything under control.
We had three kinds of potatoes, roast duck, spaghetti ring florentine, red cabbage, salads, and risalamande -- a delicious rice, whipped cream, and almond dessert -- with cherry sauce. There are probably things I'm forgetting because there was much variety; however, all was delicious. 

Some of the cousins and Sten serenaded the rest of us with Christmas music while food was prepared and many conversations carried on. 

The meal was eaten in a leisurely manner, the gifts were opened and enjoyed, some family photos were taken, and everyone went to bed full of much Christmas joy.

Tallinn Visit -- Part 3: Food, Music, and other Delights

Tallinn boasts the only vegan restaurant in Estonia, Vegan Restoran V.  It's just a block or so from the old town square and well worth a visit.  We didn't learn about it until the last day of our visit; but had we known of it earlier, we would have definitely eaten there more than once. The atmosphere was relaxing, intimate, and welcoming.  The food was imaginative, delicious, quite reasonably priced, and beautifully presented.  Whether you are vegan, vegetarian, or carnivorous, you should check out this place if you're ever in Tallinn. Sten had pasta shells stuffed with vegetable, spinach, and tofu in a sun-dried tomato sauce. 

I had the beetroot and chickpea burger with oven-roasted vegetables. 

As most every place in the old town, this building is very old with wide beams in the ceiling.

One of the churches in the old town, a Lutheran church on the way from our hotel to the town square, advertised a Christmas concert by a women's choir.  We had visited the church earlier in the day and thought we'd come back for the concert.

The choir, when not singing a cappella, was accompanied by piano, but also some excellent brass players and violinists on selected pieces.  Many pieces were familiar to us, but there were others with Estonian texts that we didn't recognize.  We were glad we came back for this beautiful concert. 

The next few photos are of various shop entrances and windows.  Some are entered by a flight of stairs from the street level.

It's an Estonian custom to greet arriving guests you're meeting at the train or airport with flowers as a welcoming gesture.  Flowers are highly valued and not extremely expensive.  There is a whole row of flower shops just outside one of the gates to the old town.

It sure was fun to see the name of this street. What a way to make me feel at home! I look forward to my next visit and connecting with some of my extended family.

Tallinn Visit -- Part 2: Christmas Market and Shops

I'd never visited a Christmas market before coming to Europe this Fall; but come December, they are everywhere.  Christmas markets are very festive and give a warm holiday atmosphere to this dark time of year in the North. The town hall square in Tallinn's old town is alive with people in stalls selling all kinds of items for Christmas giving as well as food and drinks to fill and warm you. As the sun sets -- very early this time of year -- the place becomes beautifully lit up.

A reindeer in a fenced area adds to the Christmas atmosphere.

Lots of fur hats, gloves, slippers, and vests for sale here.

This woman's beautiful coat intrigued me, as I recognized the fabric to be a woven pattern used in the national costume from one region of  Estonia. I asked her about it and learned that she had it custom made to be totally lined in sheep skin.  Very warm. She and her husband have a sheep farm where the products in her stall come from. Sten bought a sheep skin hat from her to keep him warm on his daily walks.

Hand knit sweaters, hats, scarves, and more filled the stalls.  One can easily become overwhelmed. We made a few purchases for Christmas gifts as we passed through the town hall square on our way to and from our hotel.  

This shop was not part of the market, but along the street near our hotel.  It sells the woven fabric used in the skirts of the national costumes.  Notice the map in the second photo.  It shows the regions of the country with a swatch of the fabric used in their costumes.  Colorful and tempting.

This shop's specialty is marzipan shaped into all sorts of things.  They even had a "Museum" downstairs with marzipan made into busts of famous people. Interesting.

I thought these simple brown paper bag gift bags decorated with natural seeds and plants were beautiful.

This shop filled with things forged by a black-smith -- hinges, doorhandles, knockers -- also had these two chain mail pieces.  

I'm not a big shopper in normal situations at home, but this shopping experience was fun and different.  I'll leave you with this young redhead inviting you into her shop to buy Baltic amber, amongst other things. Have fun.