Happy Birthday Kathy- Thanks for the memories this year

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Kathy, Happy Birthday to you !!! Hope you have had a great day.
Love this picture of you with Tina..what a year we have had.

I have an advent calendar on my wall with little clothes pins to remind me of the days of December. Yesterday, we arrived at your lucky number. I spent most of the night last night trying to put this on the blog. Finally, I have been successful.

It is snowing this morning for the first time this winter. Christmas has come to Denmark- even with the threat of global warming and the world dying of what ever the disaster of the day is.

Everyone is glued to the Copenhagen Event. We heard the other day that three percent of the Danish people are church goers. They are almost all Christians but only 3 percent attend their beautiful empty churches. I think that if we all spent a week celebrating the birth and life of Jesus Christ we may come up with some real answers about how to save the world. So much for my little soap box. Just wanted to wish you a happy happy birthday and a wonderful Christmas. These little christmas treasures I found at the local gen brug...thrift store..where we have found many only Danish Christmas decorations.

This year has been full of wonderful memories. Thank you so much for coming to mother's funeral and sharing a week of wonderful experiences. What a great event. I am creating several posts for wildmountainabroad. They will be finished in a few days. I will never forget that very special week.

Thank you for coming all the way to Denmark to visit us. I thought for your birthday, I would put a few pictures in memory of that event. What a fine thing it is to have family come to visit us here. We loved having you and learning about Denmark with you.

Hope that you had a good taste of this beautiful place.

Loved visiting Hans Christian Andersen, our local hero. This fun outdoor musical play, starring Hans Christian Andersen, only happens in the summer. It was great to go there with you.

This is my favorite statue in Odense. We go past it everyday on the way home from the center. Sorry that you both lost your legs here... but you must remain steadfast.

Even in a fairy tale town, we discovered a place for us to act out Hans Christian Andersen stories..like the princess and the pea, the ugly duckling, and maybe Scott will act out the Emporer's New Clothes for us. The little store below is a sweet little tourist shop where I go for danish treasures. The restaurant by the big tree is very old with a courtyard that is always decorated for the season. I have lots of pictures of this place in Hans Christian Andersen Village.

Remember the Ballers...The Danes love ballers- made of bread or covered with chocolate. This poster tells us how to make them. I hope to come home as an experienced abelskeiver and baller maker. I ate five ballers last night at the center.

This modern goat and gardens are at St Knud's Kirken (King Knud's Church) right in the middle of town. I love the mix of modern and old here in Odense.

Remember visiting our mission office in Copenhagen? It is only a few blocks from the temple.

Imagine finding a fancy scrapbooking store right next to the Hans Christian Andersen Museum and village. It is owned by one of the members of our ward. Imagine a scrapbooking store owned by a Mormon.

Every statue I've met, here in Odense, has become my friend sooner or later. I've grown accustomed to this "he-She" statue..noone really knows if it is a he or she. It is also right in the middle of a very old town square. At times people complain about his nakedness but then they see the children playing on him and just think of him as a fun slide. You can see how shiny he is. That is from all the little children, old and young, who can't resist this inviting, not so modest statue.

I am glad that you could meet our friend Kim and his girlfriends son, Steven. They have had some hard times lately finding things that will help Steven want to stay in his boarding school without causing trouble. He is a great polite boy but he has lots of problems in a boarding school setting. I wish that more Danes could enjoy a family life with their children at home instead of boarding schools and nursery schools to fill the gap. (a little too much politics there, sorry)

Remember climbing in the trees, and all the mazes and precisely trimmed trees and bushes. The Danes love to trim anything that is green. We have discovered square trees, round bushes, bushes shaped like pigs, cows, even Hans Christian Andersen's sunshine paper cuts are made into carefully manicured bushes.

More tree climbing. What would we do if we didn't have such unusual castles, and play equipment in Denmark.

There are many small castles all over our Island. Some are owned privately and we can only visit their beautiful grounds. Others are shared with the public at a price. This one, Egeskov Castle, is owned by a creative family. They charge high prices to come to see the castle, and then lots of little museums and mazes. The grounds are beautiful but the museums are odd. There is even a little museum for a spark plug collection... a small cabinet of small toy trucks, a motercycle museum, and lots of odd little unrelated wonders. My favorite part was looking down on the beautiful round gardens and mazes. My least favorite part was the little wooden doll up in the dark attic that has to stay there or the whole place, it is said, will fall apart. Spooky !

Looks like that little ugly doll is doing a great job taking care of this beautiful, strange castle.

Hans Christian Andersen was one of the first people to go to the opening of Tivoli. He was born in 1805..so you know that this place is pretty old. It still holds the charm of beautiful gardens, and colored lighted chandeliers all over the park.

You and Scott came to Denmark on the hottest few days of the year. It cooled down just after you left and now, we are enjoying a white winter snow. Love the weather here. Every day is full of clouds, sunshine, wind, and rain...That describes one day of weather. Love these little tivoli wagons meant for tired children. We were hot and tired by the time we found them.

We are going to Tivoli again this weekend to enjoy the beautiful Christmas lights. We will take some picture. I am looking forward to this little Christmas adventure. Tivoli to me is a graceful, colorful garden, that just happens to have some rides, cotton candy, and a dinner menu. Our missionaries have a season pass so we don't have to pay an entrance fee.

We know that you couldn't resist this tivoli airplane ride. It was worth the wait. Next time, get a day pass so that you can go on all the coveted rides. We need to think big.

I'm glad that you were just the right size to go on this scary ride. And that you returned home safely.

I am still not sure what this play was about but I loved the giant puppets and all the running around in a colorful display. I am often not sure about these celebrations until after they are over.

What more can you say about colorful flowers. It was a good day for beauty.

More beauty.

Then the lights came on. No one, not even Disneyland, does lighting better than Tivoli. Can't wait to see what they do with Christmas. Halloween is also a great place for Tivoli. It becomes a haunted garden of lights. Something new for Denmark. (No trick or treating, except for little Icelandic Children who go out in costumes with trick or treating bags at friends homes).

More lights and time to go home to Odense. Tivoli, of course is in Copenhagen. We live across the fifty dollar bridge on another Island. You have to cross over a bridge to get to anywhere in Denmark. But this is the most expensive and longest bridge that we have. (except for the bridge to Sweden..and we don't plan on going there anytime soon).

We live about two hours from Tivoli, and Copenhagen. Thank you Kathy for the great day in this Old Fashioned Disneyland of Denmark.
Thank you for the great memories of your trip. Loved having you.

Something else happened on your birthday yesterday... See through our Christmas window?

I took this yesterday. In the far corner of the window you will see a little Icelandic pony. He has two best friends- two big black horses- that live out in our backyard and belong to the neighbors.
He has been sick. They have had him for many years and discovered by his teeth problems that he is older than they thought. He is thirty five years old and cannot eat well.

This was his last sunrise. After I took this picture, his owners (members of the church) took him to the vet where he died.

We will miss this little pony and so will his friends.

This has been a season of farewells, and joyful reunions. Thank you Kathy, for being a part of our lives. We are looking forward to seeing you, Scott and all those little boys during the summer. We love you and appreciate all you do for this family. Have a great week !

Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas from our home away from home. It is full of light, trees, and Christmas cheer. We look forward to seeing your birthday and Christmas pictures. You are truely blessed to be surrounded by family in DC. Hope you are feeling well and that you have time to enjoy the fun and sweet spirit of Christmas. I miss our Christmas Carols and American Christmas displays and celebrations. We really know how to fill the month with good cheer. I now really believe in Santa Claus and appreciate the frenzy as well as the peace and plenty of our unique American Christmas. Have a good one and don't worry about the small stuff. (sorry about all the mispellings- I want to get this to you before your next birthday)

Thank you for all the considerate and kind things that you do to help us all. You are such a great mom and talented leader. Keep up the good work. See you this summer.

Love, Mom and Dad