Pictures from Svenstrup Gods
Inside the manor
Outside the manor
Wagon ride
Lane leading up to the manor
Our little Christmas tree
Me with julemand
Santa Claus dancing around the Christmas tree at the ward party.
Kære Familie, 3 December 2017
I have been thinking a lot about family traditions. I believe they are the glue that aids in keeping families together. There are family traditions surrounding almost every event or holiday that you can think of. Traditions add that special, unique family flavor to whatever holiday or event you are celebrating. We look forward to traditions—things like being able to pick your birthday dinner or choose the cake, singing songs around the campfire, playing games with the family, or dancing around the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve (Danish tradition). But the traditions shouldn’t overshadow the event, i.e. Christmas, or camping together, or recognizing someone on his/her birthday. I have been reminiscing about some of our family Christmas traditions over the years. When I was young, we always had a pot roast dinner at my grandparent’s house. I don’t remember having a special dessert—probably just Christmas cookies. I only remember Naoma’s family and our family attending the dinner. I loved getting together with my cousins and playing while the dishes (no dishwashers back then) were being cleaned. Afterwards, we opened a gift from my grandparent’s. My grandfather died when I was 12, but we continued this tradition for many years afterwards. I remember getting homemade gifts like knitted slippers, but the gift I remember best was receiving my temple apron and crocheted temple envelope when I was 18. As the cousins got older, some of them would only ‘stop by’ to say ‘hi’ but then left to do things with friends. As one of the younger cousins, I envied their freedoms. Eventually when the cousins began to get married, the tradition moved down a generation and we began holding Christmas Eve at my parent’s home. We used to have a big ‘sit down’ dinner, but then we simplified and had cold cuts, rolls, salads and other sides. Everyone brought food to share. One year, the white elephant tradition began—Stephanie and my mother went to McDonalds frequently with the grandchildren and started to accumulate ‘happy meal’ toys. It became a year-long process to collect different presents for all of us. Everyone played the stealing game because all the toys were kid-friendly. Of course, we were sensitive not to steal from a child who did not understand the game. And then the Shurtliffs (our family) moved to Texas. BAM! What a way to ruin a tradition! The first Christmas (1991) we came back to Utah and Christmas traditions were pretty normal, except that Santa visited Grandma’s house. But then we didn’t come for Christmas every year. At first, my mom would send us 7 white elephant gifts in the mail, so we could play the game. But that didn’t seem to make sense—and then I got the bright idea to make the gifts worthwhile—not something that broke in a few days, or got forgotten before it got home. But maybe we need to modify that tradition and ‘take the gloves off,’ like Jared said, and include the children in our white elephant game. If we do, we need to have a variety of presents that can fit all ages.
Traditions can change, but still keep family togetherness intact. Old traditions are replaced with new ones. When I married Dad, we incorporated traditions from both families. The Shurtliffs got together on Christmas Eve to sing and play the player-piano. I’m not sure if any of you can remember going to Aunt Marion’s house to play the piano, but I’m sure you remember going to Grandma’s house when the piano was moved there. After we had dinner and presents at my mom’s house, we would join the Shurtliffs at Aunt Marion’s house. The Shurtliffs got together on Christmas day for dinner, gift exchange and card games—always Big Red, Rage and Armpit. For many years, one family tradition was attending a play on Temple Square—“The Rented Christmas,” but then they stopped performing it. We have had traditions of looking at the lights on Temple Square. In Houston, we often looked at the lights in Prestonwood. Chimes have always been a big part of our Christmas Eve—much bigger than in the Shurtliff family where we first got the idea. The Skolmoski side picked it up as well, but our family has really enjoyed making music with the chimes. For many years we did the 12-Days of Christmas for a family in the ward—many of you have carried on that tradition now. We often went caroling as a family—that began when Dad served in a bishopric in Sandy and we delivered fruit baskets to widows and the elderly. It was fun to go as a family and sing and deliver a basket of goodies. We did that in Houston as well, when Dad was the Bishop. Traditions abound, but you can see that they change over the years.
When we moved to Texas, we had to create a lot of new traditions because we didn’t have family here. I welcomed the opportunity to invite others to join our Christmas celebration. I remember some years where we invited the senior missionaries. One year, we invited John and Diane Larsen and another year we invited the Petrakovitz family. It was fun to share a bit of our Christmas spirit with others. That probably would not have happened if we had stayed in Utah. For several years we had a tradition of camping over Thanksgiving with several families in our ward. These are all good memories. Traditions are important, but it is not so much about what we do, but that we do it together—whether as a large extended family or with your own family. The best traditions always involve service—helping others and bringing a little holiday cheer (whatever the holiday) into their lives.
We finished getting all the pictures for our Christmas slide show last week. The first zone conference is in less than two weeks, so we will spend this week putting the pictures into ‘movie maker’ and adding music. I hope this part goes well. I also need to start work on the next edition of The Banner but with only 4 missionaries going home—and 4 coming out, it shouldn’t take too long. We should have a little more time this week because our missionary apartment inspections are finished for a couple of months. Those always take time—between the inspection, shopping for needed items and follow-up repairs, we often make multiple visits to each apartment. But we enjoy the interaction with the missionaries and we enjoy serving them. For the most part this round of inspections gets A’s and B’s on their cleanliness—there were only two apartments that got failing marks. There really is a difference in the spirit of the apartment when it is clean and uncluttered. You can feel it the moment you walk in the door.
I invited Sisters Johnson and Jenson to go on a Christmas Market outing on Saturday. Their husbands had a high priest Christmas luncheon that day, so it was a good opportunity to do something with just the girls—especially a something that the men absolutely hate—wandering around and looking at Christmas boutiques. It is not necessarily my favorite thing, but I knew the other sisters would really enjoy it—and I am their transportation. We went to the same Christmas Market we went to last year which is out in the country on a Baron’s estate. It would be unavailable by public transportation. I enjoyed the ambiance of Christmas festivities, and for that reason alone, it was a good outing. The market was not mobbed with people like some of the markets that are around Copenhagen, and the boutiques are spread out over the estate. We were entertained by a group of children singing Christmas carols; Julemand was there to greet the children, and a horse-drawn wagon provided a ride around the estate. There was the smell of wassail (glogg) in the air, as well as hot pandekager (crepes), æbleskiver (circular pancakes) and brændt mandler (roasted almonds). We also visited the manor house where we could tour a few rooms on the main floor and see the beautiful Christmas decorations—as well as the historical home. It was just nice to get out of the city and enjoy the peace in the country. So even the travel time was well spent to enjoy the rolling farmland and small lakes and quaint country villages.
We had a musical Christmas fireside on Sunday night. There are three such firesides each year in the stake. The stake music chairman coordinates the firesides. This one—with Christmas music—had the best attendance. The program was very nice, especially the men’s choruses. Seven of our missionaries sang with three other brethren a beautiful rendition of ‘White Christmas.’ Another small group of YSA men sang ‘Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth.’ We had two piano solos which were very good—one of them sounded like the Piano Guys’ arrangement of ‘I Saw Three Ships.’ We also had a clarinet solo by a young man who was good, but his piano accompanist also made him look very good. Our YSA group sang a Christmas song I had not heard before, ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’—very nice. And the closing number was the best of all—the beautiful voice of Thomas Kofod singing a Janice Kapp Perry song—‘When I Say Merry Christmas.’ It was simple, but so beautiful. Many of the songs were in English, but there was a mix of Danish songs as well. We don’t get to hear the First Presidency Devotional, so this was a nice substitute. I didn’t have to accompany any numbers this time. Our YSA groups accompanied their own songs—which is the way it should be. I was supposed to accompany a family from our ward, but they dropped out of the performance due to illness—colds that ruined their voices this weekend. It was nice to just sit and enjoy the music.
Med kælighed, Mom
Kære Familie Sunday, 3 December 2017
Well, December is here and the Christmas season has officially kicked off. Our streets and stores have been decorated from before Halloween but we only decorated our apartment this week – I still have that feeling that Christmas can’t start until after Thanksgiving. Did we tell you that the stores here aggressively push Black Friday with extended shopping and sales? We asked why is that, since Thanksgiving is not recognized in any sense. The answer seems to be because it is an opportunity for the stores to push early shopping. I wonder how it got started and got any traction with the shoppers? One insightful person told me it has backfired on the stores in at least one way, because there is a lot of shopping done that day at sale prices and then the spending is very slow after that.
We bought and put up a live Christmas tree this year. It took us 2 days of looking around before we decided what we wanted. Our shopping the first day was disappointing and frustrating, as we didn't find what we were looking for - mostly because it was our first experience looking for trees and lights in Denmark. The first time for everything is just a little different because it is not the same as the USA. Things tend to be more expensive and in this case their lights are just a different style, many of the indoor lights offered are battery operated. We look for what we are expecting and are disappointed when we don't find it. The 2nd day, was better. I was determined to be engaged and find something to bring home. The cost was not as inhibiting a factor as earlier in the week. In the end, we found a tree for 150 kr that was wrapped in plastic mesh so we weren't quite sure what we were buying. When we got it home, it is a beautiful tree about 5 feet tall and just perfect for the spot we have by the patio door. We bought colored LED lights in a 120-light strand, 12 meters long. I thought they would be too many lights but we soon realized we needed at least 1 more strand once mom started putting them on the tree. The finished tree looks very nice and it surely adds a spirit of Christmas to the apartment. I don't think we realized how much we missed it last year. Mom started tying some bows last night to add to it and we should do a few more this week to finish it off.
Institute was more of the same this week. We didn't have any volunteers for dinner so mom prepared it all with my help. She made Frikadellers with scalloped potatoes, broccoli and bread. We had enough of everything so it worked out well. For the 3rd week in a row, we did not have any English students. They seem to have disappeared. We had 32 YSA attend and we think we fed about 25 people. The YSA choir practiced after the lesson for the music Fireside that was tonight so we did not get away towards home until almost 10:30.
We had 2 investigators come: Alma and a new 25-year-old young man from Roskilde. The Roskilde sisters came with him and taught a lesson before dinner. He went home on the train with Anne Marie Frederiksen and they spent some time talking together at the Center. They had already met in church. Daniel has a baptism date for Saturday the 9th. He seemed to fit in well as he experienced Institute for the first time with the lesson from Jens Andersen and the number of young people his age. I have got to think that makes some impact on someone coming out for the first time. They are a friendly, welcoming group.
The temple has more workers suddenly the last couple of weeks. I think the presidency has been recruiting and it seems to be working. Consequently, we don't seem to be as needed. It has been several weeks since we led a session, I think because they want native speakers for the prayer circle. Elder McBride also mentioned to me that they don't feel too badly about going home right now as they have not been needed as much. That means that for a while, it seemed like the only workers were the presidency, the temple missionaries, us and maybe 1 or 2 other workers. We were scrambling just to staff the basics. These past weeks, they have been able to have the baptistry and sealings or Initiatories running at the same time as there have been 4 to 5 additional workers.
McBride's 6-month temple mission ends next Friday. We will not see them again most likely. They have enjoyed their short time here and would love to stay but he still has a tax practice to get home to as busy season starts. If our paths had crossed more than once a week, we could have had a good friendship as they are near our age and we got along with them very comfortably. His tax practice also gave us something in common to talk about.
The sisters went Julemarked shopping on Saturday to Borup in our car with mom driving since the other 2 sisters never drive in Denmark. They left at 10:00 and returned about 3:45. It was a nice get away for them and a relief for the men who did not have to follow them along through all the cute little shops or stalls!
I joined the priesthood holders of Amager Branch at an 11:00 lunch at a restaurant buffet. They were welcoming that I came along. The branch paid for the meal and they would not accept my payment for myself. There were around 15 who came, including 2 sons. The food was good and we had a nice conversation with Brother Loftus, who is a pilot from London to Singapore for Norwegian Airlines. I learned a lot about what the life of a pilot is like. Several of the brethren who came to lunch were less active so they seemed pleased that this activity was a success for them. One of the brethren had a coupon that was 50% off for the whole table so the lunch was around $7 a person for all you can eat. Not a bad deal!
President Olsen talked to me about their single adults and a little about the branch. Pernilla who was just baptized recently, has already returned to live with her boyfriend and is not coming to church. She was having good experiences but just could not stay away from that relationship, even though it is not a healthy one for her.
I got home at 2:15 and had a few minutes for a nap and to decorate before having to prepare 4 kilos of potatoes for the ward Christmas party. It started at 4:30 and we had a nice dinner of the traditional Fleskesteg and brun potatoes with risalamand and warm cherry sauce for desert. The ward went to a lot of work to make it nice. The decorations were beautiful, Brother Bryde made a good Julemand (Santa Claus). He had a wireless mic on so we could all hear him over the sound system as he walked and danced all around the room. They had prepared blocks of wood so everyone who wanted could make a little manger. They had wood glue and nails and the wood was precut and sanded. It took about 8 pieces of wood of various sizes to make the manger. Everyone was told to bring a hammer with them. We didn't get that message, so I did not make one, but it was fun to see dads or moms working with their kids to glue and hammer nails. They probably dedicated 45 minutes to this part of the activity. It was better than watching kids run wild on the stage! They also joined hands and danced around a Christmas tree in the center of the room as they sang carols. Santa led them in this activity. One of the songs was, “Put your left hand in, put your left hand out, and shake it all about” (in Danish of course). I don’t know how that qualifies as a Carol but it was fun to see Santa doing all the motions!
We left the party at 7:15 as they were preparing to serve desert and went to IKEA to purchase two carpets for the Lyngby sisters and drop them off. Then we had to drive to Amager to try to fix their radiator which was not working and they were cold in the apartment. The thermostat was stuck and I was able to fix it in about a 15-minute stop. Have to keep the missionaries happy and working hard! We got ice cream cones on the way home as mom wanted Mint Chocolate Chip rather than the Risalmand (rice pudding)!
Love, Dad
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