I just returned to London after having spend the most wonderful days in Denmark…   This year I brought my French boyfriend back home, so he could experience a real Danish Christmas – and I hope with this post, that you will get the right impression too. In Denmark Christmas is all about “hygge”, having a good time, unwind, eat good food, drink amazing wine – and most important being with your loved ones

Here we are – ready for take off! 

Now I am from the countryside in Denmark – so there isn’t much to do around in this area, but my God it feels good to sometimes get away from all the noise, all the people and actually be able to go for a walk in unspoiled nature. We arrived in Billund airport and my mother picked us up. As always she had prepared a nice Danish meal for us – and bubbles!

Blinis with gourmet salmon from Fanø, foie gras and bubbles! 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Now you can’t have a Danish welcoming meal without “smørrebrød”. I’m not sure, if you have ever heard of our beloved traditional food, but it’s basically rye bread with a lot of stuff to put on top! What is most important is how you build your “smørrebrød”. It’s the perfect combination that makes it real!

Usually “smørrebrød” is a mixture of fish, meat and cheese with a lot of different traditional Danish yummies to add on the top! 

Homemade Danish meatballs, homemade “leverpostej” (which is a kind of paté), homemade “sylte”, homemade “rullepølse” and a lot of other nice things that makes your tummy happy!

It was so good to see “little” Tanne again! She is a 7 months old bandit named after one of our favourite authors Karen Blixen

Tanne trying to persuade me to give her a Christmas present! 

It is NOT easy to take pictures of dogs in motion!

She was very happy with her squealing duck!

In fact she was so pleased with her present that she managed to destroy it after 10 minutes

… And these are the sad left overs!

Busy times in the kitchen with my mother

Here I am making Ris a l’amande (which is a traditional Danish dessert, that you serve Christmas Eve). Before serving it you add an entire almond in the dish – and the one who gets the almond wins a present! Good stuff!

It is very important to have a taste from time to time… (maybe too many times!)

Finally it was Christmas Eve – and the party could begin

In Denmark we celebrate Christmas on the 24th! We all met at my aunties house bringing presents and had a lovely dinner.

My auntie knows how to decorate a table!

With a dash of Nordic style!

Caaaaaan you feel the love tonight?

Even Santa came by…

Making the little ones very happy!

… and the older ones too!  (this is my Grandmother. She is 85 years old with a sparkling personality)

Yummy duck and “flæskesteg” was on the menu!

And after a lot of food, we danced around the Christmas tree singing carols!  This was new to Frenchie, but a very common thing to do in Denmark before getting presents

I think my mother got the biggest present of them all! 

We had such a lovely Christmas Eve – and I managed to get a little bit tipsy as well! So the day after Frenchie and I decided that it was time to get a bit of fresh air and take Tanne for a walk

I actually managed to fall on my butt right after the last picture was taken! (and Frenchie has a picture of my Ninja move!), but because it was quite painful (and also very embarrassing), only my closest friends have been given the rights to mock me after this not very graceful ending of a beautiful walk in a Danish forest!

More food and more “hygge” on the day before going back home!

We had lots of goodies from the sea!

And spend a few hours with the rest of the family playing a game of Meier

With a lot of cheating…

Some had more alcohol than others (especially because my auntie had made her own aquavit)

I hope you enjoyed my trip back home to Denmark for a wonderful Christmas. I can’t think of anything better than being with the ones you love at this special time of the year.

I wish you all a happy new year and look forward to sharing more of my adventures with you guys.

Lots of love from Louise