Julefrokost (x6)

December is the month of the Julefrokost - basically the Christmas party. I blame my lack of blogging all through December on this event! Somehow, I managed to sign myself up for six parties throughout December. The first one started on the 2nd, and I continued to eat and drink my way through the month until the 18th. I was actually looking forward to a week of non-rich food before going home for Christmas on the 23rd - I really wanted to enjoy my Christmas dinner in Dublin, and the one before that in Copenhagen on the 22nd. Perhaps a  difference between the parties in Denmark and those in Ireland is that they start much earlier 5/6pm, and the schnapps bottle is out already by that stage :o) I decided to politely say no to any schnapps before 8pm - well at least before I had eaten some food! I really enjoyed playing the present-swapping game, a popular tradition at these parties, where you role the dice and if you get a six, you are allowed to take a present from under the tree (wrapped up so you don't know what it is). Everyone is rolling the dice at the same time, so if someone else gets a six, they can come over to you and take your present. It's pretty hectic after about 30 mins of rolling the dice and present-swapping stealing. Once it is announced that we have finished, you are allowed to open your present. You can get anything from socks, to chocolates, to Christmas novelty hats, to a battery-operated weird looking Santa riding a horse (yep, someone got that. But they also had the ingenuity to use it as a head massaging device). Roll on next December :o) (a year to recover is just ample)