Jacob and Abi Beutler Family

We had a blast at our church ward Christmas Party. There was great food and wonderful company. The highlight of the evening? Dancing around the Christmas tree while singing carols! In Denmark on Christmas Eve, families join hands and dance around their Christmas tree while singing carols. The last carol is a fast-paced and loud one. One person break the circle and leads the chain away from the Christmas tree and around the house, and then back to the group. Ben and Liz loved it, but not as much as their mother!

So we finally took a trip to see Frederiksborg Castle, which houses the Carl Bloch paintings. It was all very cool. The castle doubles as a museum, and it is HUGE. When we got there we made a bee-line to the chapel and saw beautiful paintings, the highlight being Carl Bloch's paintings, which are well known within the church. Then we made our way through the rest of the castle. Some things that we all liked: battle armor, clocks, the ballroom, and ornately carved furniture.

We wanted to try out Danish kiosk recycling, so our good friend Theresa gave Ben and Lizzie lots of soda bottles. We sorted them and then took them to the store.

At the store there is a recycling kiosk. The kids took turns feeding the bottles into the mouth of the machine. The machine scans the bottles, then removes the labels, and further sorts. When they were done they pushed a button and got a receipt. Then they took the receipt to a store clerk and got some money...about 60 kroner (about $12.00 US). So here in Denmark, it pays to recycle.

We had a belated Halloween party with our friends Theresa and Alvin. Theresa is originally from Alaska. We had a baked potato bar and cinnamon rolls. For the activity, we all sat around and watched Ben and Lizzie go crazy with cowboy hats (brought by Theresa). Fun, fun, fun.

We don't have a bathtub in our house (Danish quirk). So we finally bought a baby tub for Johnathan as he is too big for the kitchen sink now. Here he is kicking back and relaxing. Ben and Liz got right in when John was done. I was actually jealous: one of my "when I get back to the states" plans is to have a long soak in a bathtub.
Our Johnnie is five months old now, and taking to rice cereal very well. I'm not surprised, as the baby cereals have milk sugar and vanilla in them. Lucky guy!
The weather has shifted to chilly, bone-chilling. Here Liz and I chatter on the beach on Folle Strand (near Aarhus). We stayed there for a week while Jacob and his Riso team took measurements at the power plant. It was a long, but vital week for Jacob and his dissertation research.
Ben has discover his ability to entertain John. And John rewards Ben with an abundance of giggles.