Tales from Crete | 60

How about a Zorba for Christmas lunch?

Before long, the biggest Christmas lunch day of the year will kick off, and all over the country companies and companies, private as well as public, gather their staff for the annual Christmas lunch. For the most part, the party theme, although not exactly determined, is very classically Danish. We Danes love traditions, and why invent new ones when the old ones fully meet our expectations. What should we do with the red Christmas tie with a green Christmas tree on it that plays "Merry Christmas" when you press it, the luminous bow tie that always falls to one side, perhaps because the clip is "made in China", because not to mention the classic blue Santa hat from Tuborg, with white snowflakes and a flashing red table tennis ball as a tassel, and of course the reindeer antlers to put on the head, if all these things could not be brought out this once a year for the company Christmas lunch. Yes, yes - if there's something we Danes are good at, it's holding Christmas lunches and most of us love it.

Sometimes, however, things go a little out of whack when Bent from the warehouse is charmed by Yrsa from the bookkeeping department when she shows off her newly acquired red Christmas dress. But this kind of thing obviously happens, because as they say, the mind goes out as the beers and schnapps go in. Beer and schnapps belong to a "real company Christmas lunch" and I'm not going to try to change that at all (I actually like both parts myself).

But how about challenging the guests with one Zorba, just for a change. When you are a tourist in Greece, the Zorba dance is a regular feature when a Greek night is held and it is not really that difficult. You just have to remember which leg goes behind the other when dancing around in a circle. But the faster the music goes, the more difficult it becomes to find out which leg to take and whether it should be behind or in front of the other. This despite the fact that you basically do it in the same way throughout the dance. But it is an incredibly festive element in any party, where even the most drunken people fall short, and that even without being intoxicated in any way.

If things go really wild, you can expand the repertoire with fire dancing and plate dancing, but this is probably not worth recommending, especially if the party is held outdoors.

Whether you are going to one or the other Christmas lunch, write in the comment field where you are going to hold the Christmas lunch or lunches.

I can start by saying that I am going to a few myself. Tomorrow we have Christmas lunch at Elena's and it is, according to tradition, on a sumptuous Christmas table with all kinds of good things, and then we are going to a concert and hear a lot of good music. Next Saturday I'm going to another Christmas lunch with my wife and her workplace at A Hereford Beefstouw, so I think there's more to it than roast pork and duck, although it also tastes lovely now.

Have a good Christmas lunch for those of you who have to, and now leave the car at home, so you know where it is :-)