Marianne:
In the middel of October, Helene and I went to the Culture Night in Copenhagen. It was a great evening. We started at the UN City in the North Harbor. A lot of people had the same idea, so we had to wait patiently in line to get inside the warm building. It was bitterly cold outside as there was a strong wind. It's amazing to see how much new construction is in the harbor. Later in the evening we visited the art museum called “The free” and the Jerusalem Church where we listened to some gospel.
On October 5, we had to say goodbye to Max. He had been ill for a while, but when we visited him just a few days before he passed away, we did not realize that he only had a few days left. We had a nice ceremony, where Max´s urn was placed alongside my mother-in-law Hilda's. We took a drive to Silkeborg. It is a strange feeling that we no longer have any errands there.
As mentioned earlier, the result of a lottery at my birthday party was that the winners won the right to invite me to various cultural events. By the end of 2016 I´ve been to a few. Nicolai won the right to take me to Charlottenlund trotting track. However, it was immediately converted to a trip to the races in the Klampenborg (gallop) since the Moresco family has affiliation there. Nicolai's great-grandfather owned the Derby winners in 1911 and 1912. Fortunately Nicolai extended his invitation to Michael and the rest of his own family. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Royal Lounge and we also did some gambling on the horses. However no major wins.
Jan invited me for a trip to the movies. Linette and Michael joined us and we saw Inferno with Tom Hanks. Afterwards Linette served glorious shrimp sandwiches. It was lovely to visit them in Vamdrup - and we also made a short trip to our former home town, Kolding. It was a quite nice to get back there.
Recently - in fact last weekend - Dan took me ice skating on CW Obel's Square in Aalborg. Mind you, this was the day after the boys had been to the yearly boys´ lunch at Dan´s. But it was great. I fell once, but never mind! It was definitely worth it. The subsequent brunch / lunch at Søgaard along with Karin & Dan, Rikke & Søren and Michael only made it an even better experience.
For my part, I´m not much of a golfer during the winter months. But in October,when we attended a great cousins event with Michael´s family in Vojens, we took the opportunity to play at Royal Oak in Jels. It was a relatively wet experience, but the course is incredibly beautiful. Definitely a place we want to visit again.
During November we had some amazingly beautiful and cold
days. I took a walk in Copenhagen at dusk, and couldn’t´t not help but shoot some photos, when I passed Langebro. The following day was frosty mist and extremely beautiful in Farum. Something that also had to be perpetuated. Just to clarify for everybody once more: We are very excited about our new house - and we enjoy having the opportunity to see both the sun rise and sun down from our living room.
Thanksgiving. An event that we really learned to love while we lived in Utah. This year we decided to celebrate - with all that it takes. Michael smoked a turkey and it was served with mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, gratin with sweet potatoes and apples, stuffing and gravy. For dessert, we had Bad-ass Bourbon Pecan Pie from the American Pie Company in Skindergade, Copenhagen. It comes highly recommended.
Helene and I have made some lovely hikes. We went for a long Sunday stroll in her neighborhood. Everything was very beautiful.
December in Farum. We decided to spend the Christmas holidays in the summer house (FriisBo) together with my parents. But I still wanted to decorate our new home for the first time. All the Christmas ornamanens we purchased on our trips in US was a must. They were hung on a modern version of a Christmas tree. We actually liked it a lot, since we didn´t go for the real stuff this year.
December became the month when I did my first concert. I´m sure that not a lot of people had seen me doing that. Well, the story is that I started singing in a gospel choir in Birkerød with Lone. And we had two concerts - one in Birkerød and one in the Sct. Lukas church on Frederiksberg. It took some courage, but was a great experience. We´ve already started the next season and will make a concert on February 12th.
Caro and Mick invited to a pre-Christmas party a few weeks before Christmas. It was a
cocktail party - kids attended, so it wouldn’t be totally, we expected. We chose, however, just to be safe, to go to Roskilde by train. None of us wanted to volunteer as designated driver. Probably a smart decision, since we were a bit tired on the way home - one of us a bit more than the other.
Christmas in FriisBo is not bad at all! We went up there on December 22nd, so we were able to celebrate Ulla's 50th birthday on December 23rd. We has brunch in Gistrup and subsequent made a hike in in Lundby Krat with inlaid provisioning stop. We were served a bitter joined by a piece of raspberry cake. Nice combo. We could easily have been longer, but we had a Christmas tree to be decorated.
And so we did. Mom and Dad bought a really nice tree - and when
it was finished with all the ornaments and lights, we were very pleased with the result. We do love a real Christmas tree. Christmas Eva was absolutely wonderful. We started with a worship in Nr. Lyngby church, which is very close by. When we came back home, the house smelled exactly as it´s supposed to since the duck was roasting in the oven and was joined by pork roast. It was a spectacular meal. And guess what! I won the almond gift. (An almond is hidden in the rice pudding we have for dessert and the won who gets it, wins a price). I was the one who bought the gift, so no big surprise, but still a nice gift. It was the game of Bezzerwizzer about the year 2016. We played the game on Christmas Day.
Christmas Day had everything it´s supposed to have. Good food, a long walk on the beach and playing games. We found the old Christmas hit "Please come home for Christmas" by the Eagles, which we discovered when we all spent Christmas in Bountiful. Mom and dad took the challenge - and I couldn’t´t help making a photo. We went back to Farum on the 27th after we had taken down Christmas and even had some time to relax a bit.
Unfortunately, Michael was sick a couple of days after we came back home. So he missed the game night at Helene´s. It was a pleasant evening, where the plan was to play several board games, but we only played a new game called Hint and Bezzerwizzer 2016. It was actually a really nice way to be together. Something we did a lot in the US, but since we came back, we haven´t done it. We must find an opportunity to bring it up again!
We celebrated The New Year at Lone and Peter´s. It was a lovely evening, and although we were only 5 adults (Lone, Peter, Lone's mother Else, MB and I), it was the wee hours before we went home. Michael fortunately recovered, so he was able to bake the traditional marzipan cake, that he makes every year. (Same procedure as every year, James).
Helene and I have made some lovely hikes. We went for a long Sunday stroll in her neighborhood. Everything was very beautiful.
it was finished with all the ornaments and lights, we were very pleased with the result. We do love a real Christmas tree. Christmas Eva was absolutely wonderful. We started with a worship in Nr. Lyngby church, which is very close by. When we came back home, the house smelled exactly as it´s supposed to since the duck was roasting in the oven and was joined by pork roast. It was a spectacular meal. And guess what! I won the almond gift. (An almond is hidden in the rice pudding we have for dessert and the won who gets it, wins a price). I was the one who bought the gift, so no big surprise, but still a nice gift. It was the game of Bezzerwizzer about the year 2016. We played the game on Christmas Day.
