Christmas with The Cousins- Danish Style 2010

Christmas with the Cousins 2009 post here

We had our traditional Danish Christmas at my house on the 19th of December.

Dinner was great!  Details of the food and recipes in the 2009 post.

Nadya found the almond and received the additional gift

 and a years worth of good luck!

She was just a little bit excited. 
Can you tell???

She is hiding the five dollars with her death grip.

We Exchanged Gifts-

And for the first time I can remember, the kids played mostly downstairs the entire time and played for the longest time.  The adults were able to converse upstairs and it was so nice!  The kids were just exhausted by the time everyone left because they played so hard! 

I am not pictured (because I am always behind the camera) but I received a book from Kris that was one of my late Grandpa's favorites.  It's called A Night of Watching by Elliott Arnold and it's about the Danish Resistance and how the Danes prevented the Germans from taking many of the Jews.  My Grandfather served in the resistance forces and spoke often of his Jewish Friends but never with out  tears.   The Danes saw their friends as  fellow Danes, not Jews. The book is no longer in print, but you can find used copies.  It was a very sweet gift and I look forward to reading it.  Doug is currently reading it and he is enjoying it.  Thank you Kris for such a special gift.  I will always treasure it.