Winter Holidays in Denmark - all you need to know

Last Week in Denmark (14.12-21.12) Episode 45 Year 5

Dec 21, 2025

Welcome to the final 2025 Special Edition of Last Week in Denmark. We dedicate this edition to an important achievement in the LWID universe: the publication of more than 200 original long-form articles! If you scroll further you will get a taste of what we have written on lwid.dk for the past year.

Otherwise, keep in mind that we’re on vacation until January 18, the Sunday when this newsletter will once again reach your mailbox. We need a break to recharge and reflect to start the year with fresh eyes and - who knows - maybe novel ideas. The team at Last Week in Denmark wishes you all great winter holidays and a Happy New Year!

P.S - Don’t skip the holiday-themed articles our writers have prepared to enhance your mood at the end of the newsletter.

Illustration by Diana Bălașa

Words from the Executive Editor
The house is quiet. The grandfather clock reminds me that a new day has already started its countdown. There is a strong sense of déjà vu. How many times have I seen this exact scene this year? Late night. Keyboard. One more edition. Building a weekly newsletter after work hours is not easy, and it always starts with the same sacrifice. Time. Our most valuable resource.

For a brief moment, doubt creeps in. Is it worth it?

Then a Slack notification breaks the silence. A volunteer from the ever-growing Last Week in Denmark universe asks if someone is ready to step up and lead the newly redeveloped YouTube channel. It is past midnight. Minutes later, another volunteer replies. She is ready.

And in that moment, it clicks. Last Week in Denmark has long grown beyond me, beyond the weekly newsletter where it all began. People are building new corners of this universe on their own, burning the midnight oil in ways I could never have imagined or even fully known about.

I am no longer alone. It is no longer just my dream. It has become a shared one, shaped by many hands and many late nights.

As I push my chair back and let my hands rest, fragments rush in. Conversations across the country. Messages on social media. Long emails written by people who feel seen and informed.

The conclusion is simple. This matters.

For many of you, especially those struggling with loneliness, Last Week in Denmark has become a small constant. Something familiar on a Sunday afternoon or a Monday morning commute.

There are few things more meaningful than knowing you are useful to others, and that feeling makes every late night worth it.

This might be the last time the midnight chime catches me working too late in 2025, but don’t worry. The motivation is very much alive.

Thank you to everyone who believes in this project. Readers. Listeners. Volunteers. Team leads. You have all carried Last Week in Denmark to where it is today.

More than one million views across nine language editions in 2025. And this is only the beginning.

Thank you for reading and sharing Last Week in Denmark!

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State of Last Week in Denmark
In a previous edition we told you how we broke through in the podcasting world. This week we want to share another milestone for the LWID universe. We can now officially claim independent journalistic work under our umbrella. This is a real step forward from being simply a curating service of Danish media, and it changes how we think about our role and responsibility.

In 2025 alone more than 200 original articles were written for LWID by a growing group of contributors. What started almost accidentally as an initiative from the LinkedIn team, at the time led by Pratik Hariharan, slowly turned into one of the strongest pillars of the LWID universe, under the guidance of Ali Lewis. It proved that there was both talent and appetite for original reporting focused on life here, explained for people who did not grow up with the system.

Today we work with two writing teams. The Columnist Team brings together people who want to write about their own experiences in Denmark with full freedom of voice, as long as it stays within our shared values and basic guidelines. Alongside them is the Reporter Team, where writers research and investigate topics we assign, or they pitch to us, turning data and news into structured articles.

The Reporter Team show that LWID can do serious journalism about everyday life, not just opinion or commentary. They tackle topics like elections, labor shortages, social policy, and small changes that affect daily routines — and they do it by explaining rather than assuming knowledge. They respect original sources while adding the missing context that many internationals need but rarely get. By writing with restraint, fewer opinions and more explanation, they strengthen trust and make the articles easier to share far beyond our usual circles.

Just as importantly, the team have managed to build a shared voice. Even with many different writers, articles feel like they belong to the same publication. That kind of consistency is rare and hard to achieve, and it shows that the editorial work behind the scenes matters. For readers, it means LWID feels reliable and familiar. A habit rather than a one-off read, and a platform that no longer depends on a single person to exist.

The columnist team is led by Kalpita Bhosale and Paulina Stachnik. Among their productions you can read:

Laura Matheson’s Tur-Retur column
Kristine Ammitzboll-Bille (a city councilman in Copenhagen) coverage of Danish democracy
Julia Jones’ Ask Julia psychologist column where readers can ask for advice
Florin Lungu’s leadership and workplace column
Florina Lungu’s mental health column
Pratik Hariharan’s music column
John Dixon’s travel in Denmark column
Josephine Basthof with the Being Danish column
Emily Ritchie with The Little Viking Saga
Asbjørn Reissmann with a legal column
Stephanie Lund with a Danish culture column
Medha Kapoor on Danish Values
Leonidas Fourlis with an energy and agriculture column
Mateo Rubio (our youngest writer) with a column on the IB system
Stephanie Makison with a column on how to live like a local
Adrienn Ravn with the Inside Out column
and Alicja Peszkowska with a democracy-focused column.

The reporter team is led by Ali Lewis, assisted by content editor Emily Ritchie. The line-up of the reporters includes Laura Matheson, Sudaay Tat Haznedar, Ahmet Akkoç, Gosia Kozlowska, Kalpita Bhosale, Daniel Sfita, Golam Sadman, Mark Søderberg, Sebastian Florian, Pratik Hariharan, John Dixon, Paulina Stachnik, Josephine Basthof, Christian Green, Sandani Gunawardane, Anna Łęcka, Jittal Mehta and Maja Christiansen Cawthra. Special thanks to Dave Wood for editing support this year.

Our invaluable Website team - Keith Machedo, Patricia Szabova and Manoritaa Ravishankar - ensure articles are published each week and maintain the website on a daily basis.

Overall, more than 40 people have written long-form articles for the Last Week in Denmark website in 2025. A lot of great evergreen content, worth seeking out even months after publication.

In September this year, we launched a collaboration with The International magazine, enabling our writers’ work to reach even more readers. We published a special print edition for the International Citizen Days in Copenhagen and have published a digital collaborative magazine monthly since then. We are excited to continue our partnership during 2026! You can read more about our collaboration here and also check out the latest magazine. It will be worth it.

New reporting - original, long form reporting from our dedicated team!

🎄 It’s nearly Christmas and our team are feeling fully festive this week.

👉Sudaay Tat Haznedar takes a journey around Denmark to discover some unusual and region-specific Christmas traditions you won’t find in your average guidebook!

👉 For internationals here, Christmas often involves blending traditions from home with new ones from Denmark. Gosia Kozlowska meets some internationals from different countries to find out how they do itm

👉 Why does Christmas in Denmark last a whole month? Daniel Sfita finds out.

👉 Spending Christmas in Denmark away from friends and family? Golam Sadman explores how to not only survive but savor solo festive time

👉 Laura Matheson has the ultimate guide to Danish TV series to enjoy during the long, dark nights of winter.

👉 Paulina Stachnik and Josephine Basthof meet some of the organizations serving Denmark’s most vulnerable people at Christmas, including a community cafe in Copenhagen and the Red Cross.

👉 Ever wondered about the history of the royal New Year Speech in Denmark? Sigga Hansen explains

And why not cozy up with a hot drink and a blanket during the break and explore some of our best articles of 2025?

Politics

“Citizenship is a Labyrinth but you can get there!” Ali Lewis talks to professional citizenship consultant Miriam Thompson.

What’s Going On in the EU? Ahmet Akkoç reports from the EU Heads of State Meeting.

What is Spiritual Mobilization? Mark Soederberg meets Ida Auken, the government’s new democracy spokesperson.

The most impactful coincidence in Danish Law is elaborated by Asbjørn Reissmann

Society

Denmark, Greenland and the Dark Shadow of FKU by Christian Green.

Which is better: Danish or International Schooling? Maja Christiansen Cawthra investigates.

Denmark’s history of crisis preparedness: Kalpita Bhosale explores.

Minister for Crisis Preparedness Torsten Schack tells Sandani Gunawardane what we need to do now!