Fødselsdag!

When my visiting mom invited me to her son Kalle's birthday, I might have squealed a little bit in excitement. I then proceeded to tell all my American friends at the IPC who begged me for an invite. Everybody knows, Danish birthdays are the bizness! 

First, there are the intense decorations. There are Danish flags everywhere! Kalle was turning 16 so he was getting a little too old for the flag gambit, but Karina put a few up just to humor me.

Little Danish flags lacing the windows. When was the last time
 you saw an American flag at a birthday party?

Little Danish flag and Danish soldiers chilling
on the empty dining room table.

My favorite part though, is the food. Karina made "boller" or buns. We ate them almost straight out of the oven with butter.

The softest, warmest buns I've ever had. Mmmmm...

Then, most importantly, there's the "lackage", pronounced "lau kay". I've mentioned it before in a previous post, but it literally translates to "layer cake". 

Vanilla cake with pineapple cream filling. Iced with love and decorated
 with Kalle's favorite sprinkles. As she put them on, Karina tsked,
 "Going to break everybody's teeth."

There were 10 guests at the party, so Karina also made
 a chocolate lackage with hazelnut and coffee cream filling.

On top of those two cakes, Kalle's cousins brought over yet another cake. It was more strudel like with plum filling. We ate all the cakes with some hot chocolate and generous helpings of fresh whipped cream. Diabetes-inducing sugar goodness.

Before we ravaged the cakes, we had to sing Kalle a birthday song. The family sang the American version once for my benefit, then they broke into the most amazing song I have ever head. Before they began, Kalle chose three instruments -- and being the teenage jerk he is, he chose the saxophone, banjo, and cello. As the family broke into moans and groans, I, the clueless American could only sit and clap my hands in confusion. As it turns out, at the end of each verse, they had to hum the chorus in the style of whatever instrument the birthday boy/girl chooses. Cello. Really?? Brilliant. The song goes like this.

"[Name] har fødselsdag
og det har han/hun jo
og det er i dag.
[name] har fødselsdag
og det har han/hun jo i dag.
Og hør nu her, hvordan vi alle spille vil
Og hør nu her, hvordan vi spille vil
[imitation of a pre-decided instrument to the melody of the song]"

Watching (and listening) to Kalle's 80-year old grandmother singing the song in her prominent, operatic voice in the style of a banjo was, needless to say, life changing.

I had a fantastic time and I can't thank my visiting family enough for inviting me into their home for a family get together like this one. Some more random pictures of the day:

Ofelia, the family dog. She is extremely quiet, but
she'll park herself right in front of me under the
table until I pet her. If I ignore her, she lays down
on my feet.I still wonder whether or not she has eyes... 

When I saw this, I knew there had to be a great story
behind it. Apparently, Karina was vacuuming the house
 and knocked a candle into the television. She didn't notice
 it until she smelled the smoke, and by then, the TV was
 legitimately on fire. After telling me the story, she proudly
 proclaimed, "But it still works!!"