The Queen will spend another Christmas with Joachim and his family...
A shame because I would like to see the pictures of Queen with her grandchildren - Mary and Frederik's children :/
Your wish may still come true.
They will have a family gettogether, my guess is at Marselisborg right after Christmas, and as QMII attends service every day of Christmas and the menfolks usually go hunting at (Correction) Frijsenborg Manor I will predict QMII, Mary and our Marie and the oldest children will attend service in Aarhus Cathedral on Second Christmas Day, i.e. the 26th.
And without being a prophet I will also predict M&F will continue on to Trend and perhaps even spend New Year there?
What prize do I get If I'm right?
Let's have a little bit about a traditional Danish Christmas.
At least how it is here in the Muhler home.
Around the 1st December Mrs. Muhler open up veritable shipping containers of Christmas decorations.
Kravlenisser (pixies) are taped everywhere and on anyone who isn't moving around.
http://www.reklameillustrator.dk/illustration/hurtige_billeder/ark21.jpg
Nisser (pixies) made of cloth replace the usual decorative pillows.
http://lenesjul.dk/billeder/Strikkeopskrifter/nisser-i-gyngestole.jpg
The same thing about Julehjerter = Christmas Hearts, they are also placed here there and everywhere:
http://www.balslevforedragsforening.dk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Julehjerter.jpg
And as if we haven't got enough candlelights daily, we get Christmas Lights as well:
http://www.deichmannplanter.dk/File...Jul_2012/Juledekoration-model-E-med-4-lys.jpg - Usually homemade or givent to us as presents.
And we shouldn't leave out the adventskrans
http://www.juleugle.dk/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Stor-adventskrans.jpg
On the first Sunday of Christmas one candle is lit, on the next two candles and on Christmas Eve all four candles are lit.
Then there are the Christmas calendars. With one lid being opened until the 24th. Our children are now so big they don't care - except for the calendars containing chocolates! That's my job to get those, because Mrs. Muhler also wants one - and will she share with her poor starving husband? No!
Apart from that there are calendar candles with 24 notches.
We also put a couple of strings of light on a couple of trees outside. December is th month of darkness and there is no need to overdo it.
December is also the month of oranges, so the house is full of the scent of fir, oranges and candlelight.
Then a few days before Christmas the Christmas tree is brought in and decorated and as I have no sense for proper decoration I'm quickly chased away, and contend myself by offering my expert opinion from an armchair. I am allowed to put the star on top of the tree because I'm (still) the tallest.
Here is QMII putting a final touch of the Christmas tree at Marselisborg. She decorate it herself. And I think it's a little bit boring:
http://www.bt.dk/sites/default/file...dronningen-holder-igen-jul-p-marselisborg.jpg
Notice the Christmas carpet, which is there to collect the needles and protect the underlying carpet from dripping candlewax.
Christmas trees in more modest homes look like this:
http://images.cloud2.vixdata.com/data/media/photo/large/550/550226a7-64a1-4e17-8231-8a2caf4ce78d.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2p-uP-l6UEM/TvBrPdusYwI/AAAAAAAAATE/iHNah-kSMso/s1600/IMG_2328.jpg
http://soholmweb.dk/photogallery/Jul2011-02.JPG
Come Christmas Eve it's time for dancing around the Christmas tree, good for the digestion too. Normally it's lights out so only the candles on the tree are lit (on all other days and after the dance it's electric lights), but here they have been obliging enough and left more lights on, so we can se what happens. The song they sing is from the mid 1800's:
august danser rundt juletræ - YouTube
Then there is Christmas Eve itself, but that's an entirely different post.
In one way or another the DRF, especially the younger members, will have incorporated some of the above as well.