Thursday, December 31, 2015

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from Copenhagen!  It has been a great night. We ate, played games and watched "The Cokeville Miracle"  which we loved.
From 7 pm on there have been fireworkds going on.  rom 12.00 to 1.00 a.m. is has been like a war zone.  Hope you can get the feel of it with this video.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Sale Shopping

It was so fun to go sale shopping today with Debbie.  We started at The George Jensen Outlet and picked up some lovely Christmas Ornaments for  Deb. On our way downtown we stopped at Fotex (think Target) for more deals.  Which at the end of the day was all the purchases we made, but we had a great time looking and know where we want to go back to.....
 This looks like the streets were empty which was not the case, but it was a great chance for a picture of the square.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Kronborg Redo

We drove up the strand to Kronborg Castle in Helsingnor.  It was a very cold, WINDY day.
 They have reorganized the tourist accesses, moved the ticket/gift shop and divided the exhibit areas.
 Almost like whole new experience.
 They have added a large area for children, as is usual with museums here.  They can color pictures and yes that is a table full of legos.
They have made a wonderful tapestry exhibit and interactive exhibits.
 Both tours of the castle end up in the Great Hall, fun with the Christmas decor.


 There was very little artificial lighting.  You had a good feeling of what it was like to live there 500 years ago.
Royals can still be married in the chapel and members of the parish that attend here.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Monday Fun

"The ladies" decided to shop Tivoli alone today and had a great time.  I think the men had just as good a time at home.

 Yes, it was cold, but the fleskestege sandwiches and good deals made it worth it.
 Tonight we had a very hyggelig dinner and evening at Gerte Andersen's with the Paulsens and Eva Pallesen.




Sunday, December 27, 2015

Julehygge

Julehygge is a major part of the Danish Holiday.  It is a time to comfortably sit around ,visit and enjoy a few goodies and good friendship.  It has taken us a while to get into it and be able to relax and not be in a hurry to leave.to go on to the next thing.
 
 This afternoon we were invited down to Hanna and Gregors Knudson's along with the Manwarings who live just two doors down from them.
 We had a lovely two hour visit and enjoyed their fun Danish decorations with cookies and candy. Juice and lemonade replaced the usual coffee.  They live right below us and we met when they came up to complain about our noisy grandchildren last year. Obviously we ovecame the problem.

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Happy Birthday to Me

I had a lovely birthday doing...nothing.  We thought about going to Tivoli, but it rained hard all day, so we stayed home and relaxed.
 Tonight the missionary couples came over and we made pizza from a box, easy and fast.

    and  with three kinds of birthday cake I was sell feted.

 It has been a wonderful year.  I feel very blessed.



Friday, December 25, 2015

Christmas Day 2016

A beautiful, sunny Christmas Day in Copenhagen today.
The full moon set, just as we were getting up to open gits..

 The Larsens, Manwarings and Brooks all came for a fun Christmas morning brunch.

After which we all went home to call our families.  Jim, Deb and I did take a nice walk to deliver gifts to our old bishop first.
It was so fun to see everyone as they were opening gifts.  I think we may be more connected here than at home where we only see one family on Christmas morning.
  Tonight we watched grandchildren's performances per memory stick and played games.  Such a good Christmas.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve started with a Gudstjeneste Service at the church.  A short religious service centered on Christ with Christmas Carols.  Jim was invited to give an 8 minute speech along with Willi Block Johansen.  They both took 5 minutes, plus 4 songs so it was a short service but very nice and good to stop  and remember the "reason for the season."  I ended up accompanying  and managed to not distract too much.
 There was actually a good crowd for the day.
Christmas Eve starts at 4 pm in Denmark as everyone turns on the TV to watch s Disney Show of all the best from movies through the years.  It is shown in Danish, Swedish and Norwegian, and actually very fun.
  We were supposed to have dinner at 5.30, but since the turkey wasn't done, we read The Natvity Story and sang the appropriate carols. Dinner turned out fine.  Pres. and Sis O'Bryant, mission president, Dorrit and Per Olsen, Trudy and Bob Larsen, Debbie and we made a very compatible group.
 W really celebrated with cranberry jello, thanks to Debbie bringing all the ingredients.
 Next, as is tradition in Denmark, we each opened a gift.  Here all gifts are opened on Christmas Eve.
 
We didn't have live candles and we weren't very good with the Danish songs, but we were great with "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph" as we danced around the Christmas tree.
A
 Dorrit Olsen brought the delicious Ris alamande.  For the second time, I found the whole almond!
 We finished the night with a great gift game.  We all brought five  $1-$2 gifts, We shook dice, 6 chose a gift, 1 you took from your neighbor.  When all the gifts were gone, we opened them and did it again for about 20 minutes.  By the end it was a riot and a very fun way to end the evening.
All in all a delightful Danish Christmas Eve.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Little Christmas Eve

Little Christmas Eve is the night before Christmas Eve and celebrated here in Denmark with a supper of Risengrød. I made it according to the package directions which say to bring the rice and water to a boil and then add 5 times as much milk and boil for 10 minutes.  At which point you take it off the stove and wrap it in your comforter and put it in your bed and let it finish cooking.
 Mine cuddled in the kitchen corner until we came home from the temple, 6 hours later.
 It was perfect and still warm enough to melt the butter, sugar and cinnamon we put on top to complete the meal.We invited the Mamnwarings and Larsen to come home and try it with us.  We all declared it a success,, as was the night at the temple.  
 
   We were concerned that no one would come to the temple on Little Christmas Eve as in past years it has been closed.  But we had a good number of workers, a good session, full initiatories and a baptism the first session.  A combined family came with 8 to be baptized, one a daughter who just turned 12 yesterday.  The second session we did sealings and all felt it was a super way to start the Christmas Holiday.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Copenhagen Christmas

Copenhagen is magical at Christmas.  Deb, Jim and I walked the Stroget from one end to the other enjoying the sites and sounds.









Monday, December 21, 2015

D Day

Today was D Day at our house.  Debbie, our youngest, arrived to spend the holidays with us...
and the days start getting longer tomorrow!  Sunrise was at 8;37 and sunset at 3;38 today.
It was a beautiful day with sun and 50 degrees. Not the traditional Christmas weather, but fine by me.
  My geraniums are liking the weather as much as I am.  They are putting out new blossoms.

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Holiday Cooking

Last year I made caramel popcorn for the neighbors and Jana and Nilla Amanda our neighbors loved it and wanted to know how to make it this year.  Tonight turned out to be good for all of us.
 Fortunately they have sweetened condensed milk here.  Actually they have multiple brands and you can even buy it at the Mideastern Bazaar around the corner.

  Nilla Amanda is 9 and very shy, especially with English.  She has learned some in school but won't use it around us.
 Jana is from Finland so speaks Finnish to Nilla Amanda, and excellent English to me.
They are such good neighbors.