I Do Believe it is Winter

I got up this morning and immediately went to work on the cinnamon rolls.  I am sure that when Melissa makes them, she does 3 loads of laundry, vacuums the house, cans five tons of peaches and takes a meal to a neighbor.  When I make cinnamon rolls, I am pretty much stuck close to the kitchen for over 3 hours.  But it is worth it.  I made a double batch for tonight's Christmas activity at the center.

We scheduled two apartment inspections in Slagelse, a community about an hour's drive west of here. It was a pleasant drive.  At one point the sky darkened dramatically and suddenly we found ourselves in a real downpour of rain....which then turned to icy slush!  The car's thermometer said 2 degrees C, but it must have been a little cooler above us.

We arrived at the sisters' apartment in good time and sat and visited with them for awhile and then inspected their apartment.  They are cute young women who live on the second floor of an old quaint building...I should have taken a picture, but I just wasn't thinking!  We delivered a lot of packages to them that had been mailed to the mission office.  They excitedly put them under their tiny little Christmas tree.  We did the inspection, and gave them a few suggestions, then wished them Merry Christmas and left.  They are delightful young women, so cheerful and excited about Christmas.

Next, we visited Elder Ogden and Elder Madsen, the district leaders.  They got to their apartment as we arrived.  They were in jeans, t-shirts and muddy shoes. They had spent the morning digging up sidewalk tiles and repositioning them for a member of the ward.  They didn't look any worse for the wear...in fact they both were so cheerful, you would have thought they had just been to Disneyland!

Their apartment was clean and well-organized.  It had a nice feeling about it.  Their food was stacked neatly on the shelf, their freezer and refrigerator looked spotless, and their oven even looked clean.  I am not sure if one of them is very neat or if the combination makes it easy to keep their place clean.  But they were a lot of fun to visit.  They both went to the same high school in Utah but didn't know each other! 

Are they cute or what?  Ogden on the left, Madsen on the right....and no he is not related to us!

We got back just in time to frost the cinnamon rolls and get over to the center to set up for tonight.I fixed hot chocolate, and put out tangerines and simple gingerbread Christmas cookies that are so pervasive you even see small bowls of them in the banks.

At the center, we had a Christmas program....several YSAs read the Christmas story from Luke, we sang Christmas carols, a young woman and I shared a favorite Christmas memory, our high councilor shared a very nice Christmas message, and then we watched "Home Alone."  I can see how a young adult would think it is very funny.  For a parent or a grandparent, (even though a comedy), it is sad to think of a little boy being left all alone, and scary to think of him trying to defend the family home from invaders.  Oh well....I guess the best comedies are based on bad dreams!

As I write, I hear the fireworks going off at Tivoli.  We will hear more and more fireworks as the week progresses, culminating in an absolute over-the-top night of continuous fireworks on New Year's Eve.  

I want to enjoy every moment of the coming two weeks....I will probably never experience Copenhagen like this again.