Days before Christmas in Denmark

Monday, Dec. 20

I'm in Copenhagen and it is snowing. The trip here was rather uneventful, but it did take 1 hour 10 minutes to get my luggage. Thatøs too long to wait!

I was greeted by Evy and Arvind, Arne's sister and brother-in-law, with a HUGE bouquet of roses and carnations with one yellow rose in the middle to represent Texas. It was to celebrate my becoming Professor Emeritus over the weekend.

I'm not feeling any major sadness related to my visit. There was no angst over Arneøs absence. Of course, I miss him, and thought about how he would usually be waiting at the airport for me with my winter coat. And driving into town remindedme of what a loss it is to no longer live here months at a time to explore and enjoy the city. But there have been no tears. I definitely have the feeling of visiting a place from my past; its no longer a city where I live. There is a sadness related to acknowledging that, but there are no tears.´

The snow had just started falling as the plane arrived at 2:30 p.m. It´s now 9:00 p.m., and the lawn and cars are covered with a nice layer of white. I teased Grethe that we should go out walking it it, but she, unfortunately, has a cold.

Grethe made Danish meatballs with potatoes and white sauce mixed with cooked green cabbage (a Christmas season dish here) for dinner. It was delicious. Then we had hot tea and ginger cookies for dessert.

I´m tired, but taking a late night flight like I did is the best way to come here. As usual, I got 4-5 hours of restless sleep on the flight, but that sleep ended about noon Danish time versus 5:00 a.m. Danish time for flights leaving the U.S. in mid-afternoon. I had fewer hours from when I awoke, therefore, to stay awake until bedtime.

Tuesday, Dec. 21

There was enough snow to make everything barely white for today. It was so nice seeing it on the trees--especially on the ones at the Christmas tree lots.
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I got my things from Gretheøs storage unit and was glad to find 3 winter shirts and a sweater among them. I can dress fairly decently while I am here. I don´t have gloves or a scarf, however, and tomorrow it should stay near freeezing combined with strong winds we didnøt have today.

Today was a trip down memory lane. I went downtown. At some point I saw something that triggered the memory that Arne and I had been right there this time last year. The rest of the day, I couldn´t get away from similar memories. We were at that rack lowing for a gift for Arneøs neice last year. We were looking at the decorations in this window last year. We were together in this reading room at the library last year. Etc. His death seems to long ago, but the times we were sharing together seem so recent.

I viewed the Christmas tables at Royal Copenhagen. All of them this year were done by local florists who are known for their artistic creations. The designs were better than the ones last year (when the Queen did them all), but here are fewer tables this year and the designs are more fastastic (and, therefore, less practical). Two of the tables were covered with moss with the china and silver placed on the moss. One had a tablecloth made of cedar greenery. The best, most practical one, was probably the design and setting by Tage Andersen who is considered the outstanding florist in town by most people.

Monika and Dora invited me to tea at 3:00. They are both retirees fromWHO now. Their lives are sobusy, however, that it is hard for them to realize that thery are free. They had a 90th birthday party for Dora´s father in Switzerland last month. And they leave for four weeks in the Seychelles right after New Year´s. Sometime next year they may be coming to Texas for the wedding of Dora´s son who lives in HOuston. They served handmade chocolates from Dorøs sisterøs shop in Gstaad, and I wondered it it is the same shop there that made the chocolates that Claudeøs mother gave Arne and me when we visited her years ago.

Wednesday, Dec. 22

I spent the morning wrapping gifts. My sister Sue had sent some pre-Christmas gifts I was supposed to deliver to Arne´s family, so I also wrapped most of the other gifts I brought.

It was Arne´s sister´s birthday today, and I was invited to lunch. We made smørrebrød, Danish open-faced sandwiches. Among our choices of toppings were gravlox (smoked salmon with dill) with sweet mustard, homemade pickled herringwith onion slices, shrimp with mayonnaise, boiled eggs with anchovies, fish balls (like meatballs, but made with fish) with remoulade sauce, homemade headcheese with mustard, beef patties with caramelized onions, and rolled loaf and salami cold cuts. There was both brown rye and white bread and both lard and butter for sealing the bread. Afterwards we had cappucinos with apple pudding and abnout 5 kinds of homemade Danish Christmas butter cookies. I gave Evy an 8x10 photo of Arne as a gift. From Sue, she got a blue Christmas shirt. Arvind, Evy´s husband, sent me home with a homemade Christmas centerpiece--a country cottage scene with a house,pond, trees, and a snow landscape in a basket lined with greeery. There is a candle holder and a large candle in the centerpiece. He only makes 4 per year--one for each of their children and one for Arne and me. This year, the last one was for Nurse Grethe and me.

I went to Tivoli Gardens after leaving the party at 4:30. It´s such a magical place at Christmas. The entire park is now open at Christmas (after years of slowly expanding into more and more of it). Small houses are set along all the lanes to serve as a Christmas market selling all kinds of food, drinks, and goods. The rides are operating. Lights are inthe trees. A bigt snowscape has been set up in front of the restaurant in the Arabic-looking building, an ice skating rink is over one of the lakes, and a fire, smoke, water, laser, and sound show occurs inthe big lake every hour for about 10 minutes. The main attraction is a large hall filled with animated sets like those department stores used to have. These, however, are on a grand, two-story scale, and all the characters are nisser (elves). They are ice fishing, ice skating, skiing, making gifts for Christmas, mountain climbing, etc. The best exhibit this year allows visitors to peek into an inn where some are drinking at a bar, others are eating at a table, and still others are in front of a fireplace.

Grethe and I ate curried chicken and rice for dinner, and we watched the movie "Gosford Park" on TV. We found a message from Jean in Texas on the answering machine.

My calendar is getting full. I don´t have a free date until Dec. 30. I´m really enjoying seeing everyone and being here.

A year ago tonight, Arne and I were at a surprise party for Evy at Vagabondo´s on Vesterbrogade. I can recall certain details of that night. I try to avoid thinking of specifics like that, because it serves no purpose but to make me sad. I´m afraid, however, that I cannot avoid such memories during the next few days. A year ago seems so far away while feeling so close.

Note: Please excuse any typing errors. As at most cybercafes, the space key is worn out on this computer and words sometimes get left run together. Also, some keys are in different places causing you to see a Danish letter where there should have been an apostrophe or something else.

Happy Holidays to everyone.