Christmas Eve and Christmas Presents (not wrapped and under the tree)

December 24 is the big day to celebrate in Denmark.  There is a little bit of celebrating done on the 23rd, and of course the 25th and even the 26th.  But it was today that everyone gets that warm look in their eyes and the glow on their faces about.

Our day started out with going to a little town south of here.  We left around 8:30 and arrived at the apartment of the 3 elders we had been sent to visit around 10.  We took them packages and letters that had been sent from their homes and which had arrived at the mission office.  They were thrilled to get them.

SK thought you would enjoy seeing how fast we were driving across the countryside - in kilometers per hour!

We passed this beautiful little church...I snapped pictures from the car!  Can you believe how green it is in December?

 We also were on an assignment to inspect their apartment.  We had a checklist that had to be filled out and eventually turned in to the mission office.

There were three who came to the door to greet us.  I am fairly certain that the oldest among them is 19....maybe, and the other two are 18.  One of them was with us in Sacramento 9 months ago applying for our visas.  They met us wearing white shirts and ties and slacks and every one of the 3 looked rosy-cheeked and scrubbed clean, smiling bright happy smiles....just good young men.

We visited with them for a few minutes going over the guidelines and then they gave us the grand tour of the place as we checked off our list of things to look at.  They live in an old building, the lower half of which is rented out for the Church to hold its meetings in, and they live on the third floor.  They said that other than the landlord, they were the only tenants, but there were a couple of other empty apartments.

There were 3 good-sized rooms.  One was where all three simple beds were, neatly made with suitcases tucked underneath.  Another was where there were a couple of couches and some shelves where they kept all of their tracts and books for studying.  The last room was kind of a multipurpose room.  Considering there were three young men living there, it was very tidy and organized.  Their clothes were folded and put away, the food in the kitchen was organized on the shelves and they have been working on the bathroom since they got there (about 3 weeks), and it is going to take some work.  The buildup of kalc and stuff was great but I could tell they have been scrubbing, and they assured us they would continue to scrub until they get it clean.

The kitchen was old, but they are keeping it clean, and two of them love to cook!...and have even made a few homemade Danish dishes from the classic Danish cookbook by Froken Jensen.

Throughout the apartment were posted pictures and scriptures and quotes that were inspiring.  My heart was touched by the homemade Christmas decorations all over!  They had cut out paper snowflakes and strung them from wall to wall in all the rooms, and had a few little Christmas figures on windowsills.

This is the main shopping area of the little town where the elders live.  It probably looks very austere to you but it is a beautiful and quaint little town, devoid of shoppers on this special celebration day.  In the Spring the trees will be beautiful and it will be a vibrant and active place.

There were  a lot of people going to church at the local Lutheran church. 

The sidewalk!  I love the look of the sidewalks everywhere here, but they are often somewhat treacherous to walk on.

Most businesses are closed today, so we stopped at a McDonalds on the way home and had a hamburger.  We reached our apartment by 2....enough time to wrap a few presents I had gotten, pack up the cookies we made last night and then take the train to another suburb of Copenhagen to a couple's house from our branch.

 By train it took us nearly an hour to get there.  The train platform and the train was filled with people whose hands and arms were filled with sacks, bags, boxes and other containers full of goodies, food and presents.  Everyone had a destination of home and family it seemed.  People had an attitude of anticipation and cheer that was fun to be a part of.  Brother Olsen picked us up at the train station and drove us to his home in a lovely neighborhood.

They gave us a tour of their house and yard, which were absolutely lovely.  They had enclosed a large spacious patio...there was a beautiful little Christmas tree there and a table set for a feast for 11 of us.  After our tour we went to the basement where there was a large room meant for games and fun of all sorts.  We sat at a table and were given a chunk of marzipan each and a knife and shown how to make great candy masterpieces....which we did.  Sister Swena started by making a duck and moved on to other things....I made a little round discs or cubes or spheres.  Then we dipped them in chocolate and adorned them with nuts or candy of some sort.

We gathered around the table on the main level to eat the traditional Danish Christmas Eve dinner, and it was spectacular.  There were two kinds of white potatoes,one was boiled and one was baked in a sweet sauce.  There was flæskesteg - a tender pork roast served with rich brown gravy.  A beautiful platter of turkey was the other meat and it was served with a berry sauce and a light brown gravy.  Pickled red cabbage was a marvelous side dish, along with several exotic sauces.  Everything was so delicious...we all started out laughing and talking and then got serious as we savored every bite.

Brother and Sister Olsen are the parents of our beautiful ballerina, here with her son and handsome prince.  Brother Olsen is taking a picture from the other side!

I don't know how long we were at that table visiting and eating, but finally after an hour or longer, we got up and moved around and watched a video from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  We all joined hands and danced around the Christmas tree singing Christmas songs...none of which I knew.  I just hummed.  That was followed by opening presents.  Santa had somehow figured out we were there and had delivered a present to us....a very nice book about Danmark, including maps.  It is just what we needed.

After that we ate ris alamonde, the very traditional dessert.  It is a rich dessert, and if we had eaten it right after the meal we might have all gotten sick from eating way too much, but since we had waited almost 2 hours, we were ready for that tasty pudding!

It was a wonderful experience, and one I want to remember always.  Sister Olsen did a fabulous job.  I am hoping I can one day duplicate that whole evening with my family in Gilbert.  Christmas eve in Denmark....my first, was everything I had heard it would be.

Merry Christmas everyone!