rockin' your socks off

dec. 10 - the party (reverbing for your reading pleasure):  Party. What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans.

a spiked (with tequila) shrimp "ceviche" of sorts

i think that the party that will rock my socks off in 2010 is still yet to come, as it's our annual christmas gathering with good friends who live on a beautiful lake called buresø. the party always promises loads of good food, ample drink, a silly gift exchange and another game involving famous names passed around in a bowl and a sort of pictionary-like guessing of them that always gets rather heated and the odd person or two (read: husband) deciding to engage in a bracing jump into the nearly-frozen lake. it's a party that's the highlight of the year for going on the 6th year in a row.

part of the tradition is that every couple brings a dish. most of the others are known for bringing the same dish year after year...flæskesteg (pork roast w/the cracklings on it), tarteletter (a danish thing-a flaky light pastry filled with a creamy mixture of chicken and white asparagus), tiramisu, sushi, herring...but me, i'm known for NOT bringing the same thing again and again. my contribution to the tradition is to be untraditional...hmm, maybe that's now i'm different...above is my contribution from 2 years ago...a tequila-spiked shrimp and mango ceviche that we used as a starter. last year, i made homemade herring (yes, me, in the land of the herring, decided to tackle this and ended up doing a very traditional, old-fashioned sort - imagine that!)

any suggestions for what i should bring this year? at this moment, i've got no idea! whatever it is, had better rock their socks off.

actually taken at the buresø christmas party in 2008.

four wise guys and a robot

this morning it was "klip & klistre" day in sabin's class. that's the day they cut & paste and make holiday decorations and the parents and/or grandparents are invited to participate. husband and i both went along. the kids were given a couple of templates and they should make small nisse (elves, only naughtier) to hang in the windows and christmas trees which will go out in the hallway.

sabin was the only one who had both parents with her and her parents were by far the wackiest in their decorating:

far's skeleton/vampire nisse

mommy, is that a christmas robot?

far's painstakingly constructed candy cane christmas tree.

and far's more normal christmas tree.

that's not entirely normal, because it has an old nordic sun symbol instead of a star.

husband is such a pagan, but that's why we love him.

one of the things that struck me as very cool was that muhammed's mom came along and stayed even longer than we did (and we were there 3 hours!). there's a lot of talk in this country about a muslim minority not making any effort to "integrate," but i have to say that i see little evidence of it. she makes far more effort to integrate than i do. i've never heard her speak anything but danish and i never speak danish to sabin. i find it pretty unfair that the muslim minority gets a lot of bad press, when it's only a few people who are not "integrating" and the majority are surely like muhammed's mom.

these yearly school traditions are lots of fun. we sit and giggle with the kids, talk to the other parents during recess when it becomes blissfully quiet in the room, come to understand why teachers go down with stress (20 kids make a LOT of noise) and we (being husband and i) challenge traditional notions of what the holidays are about. and because it was nisse and trees, there wasn't much religion in it. and that's just fine with us. there's a need for a comforting winter holiday to help one through this dark time of year. and besides, it was four wise guys and a robot who showed up at the manger, right? i mean, why not? it's just as plausible as that other story.

* * *

last night, i learned that sabin's class was doing a  "pakke-kalender" (a present every day from december 1 to the 24th) and that sabin needed to bring her gift for it today. so i sat down and made a little mini-album of the pictures from her class overnight event back in september. we were supposed to spend only 30 kroner, but if we factor in my time (2.5 hours), we spent a bit more than that. oh well, it'll be a way cool prezzie for one of the kids in her class and it was worth my time.

what will your week bring?