Merry Christmas to you all! We had a wonderful Christmas celebration, but of course missed all of you we would have seen had we been back in the US. We so much appreciated the love we got through cards and emails, letting us know what you all were doing and helping us feel we were still able to keep up with all of your lives! What a blessing it is to celebrate the holiday in a different part of the world with different traditions that still point to the same glorious event!
Adam and I did lots to keep our Christmas traditions going even here in Copenhagen, although
some went better than others. Actually, since we are here we got the opportunity to host our first holiday as a married couple! We got a Christmas tree from a local seller and still made and 
decorated Christmas cookies. Since our Danish kitchen has no measuring cups or spoons, we had to estimate or convert American recipes. The Danes 
use a scale and weigh all of their ingredients out in grams when they are following a recipe. This worked well for the first round of sugar and spice cut out cookies, and so we got a little careless and the second batch of chewy cookies actually turned out like crumbly little cakes- no doubt because of too much baking powder or soda. Luckily for us, when the Monkowskis came to visit they brought some measuring devices, so we won't have that problem again.Adam's parents and sister came for Christmas and we had a great time relaxing and traveling around with them. In accordance with the Danish system of work, Adam's school is completely closed for
eleven days during the holidays. The heat is turned off and lights are out. However, for Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Boxing day, most of the rest of Denmark is closed as well, 
so there wasn't much to get to see and do. For Christmas Eve we made the seafood stew that is a Monkowski tradition and for Christmas dinner Adam cooked a duck, as is the Danish custom. We went for a long walk Christmas day into the local park and saw many huge deer. We were hoping for some snow or some sunshine, but got neither. At least there was no rain and so we were able to spend some time outdoors walking around Copenhagen and showing off the city. We took several day trips with the
Monkowskis, to a local castle in Hillerod, south Sweden, and a Viking museum. The Viking museum provided costumes to try on and so Annie, Janice, and Mel had a great time dressing like Viking women and taking pictures in a model ship.
