Danes celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and ours, on 27th December as I said, involved a traditional turkey meal at 8pm cooked by my cousin Caspar (although that was the English influence - Danish Christmas meal is usually roast pork or goose). Then there was the wonderful Christmas rice pudding with hot cherry sauce. A whole almond is hidden in it and if you find it you can claim a prize. The idea is to keep it hidden at first to encourage others to go on eating in search of it. The dedication of my nine-year old cousin Kjarthan in pursuit of this goal was truly amazing - he must have hollow arms and legs - although he did confess to having a slightly sore tummy afterwards. He duly received his prize - a big box of chocolates! After that we walked round the beautifully decorated and candle-lit Christmas tree (chopped down that morning) singing carols before opening our presents and eating more sweets. It all finished off about 2 am and not much activity was to be observed the next day. Usually things kick off a little earlier and end with a midnight walk but nevertheless it was all really delightful and a much better expression of Christmas than we seem to be able to muster in the over-commercialised, over-crowded UK, which greeted us with long delays on the M25 and a five hour return journey from Harwich, something we could have done without.
Anyway, that's it for 2009, which has been a strange mix of illness, bereavement and job struggles, alongside some really good travels and opportunities for creative expression. With knitting, it's sometimes felt like one step forward and two steps back, with lots of ideas for designing but not so much realisation of projects. I'm hoping that 2010 will see an increase in the latter as well as new approaches to work.
Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year and lots of inspirational knitting. Perhaps these decorative features at the entrance to the Natural History Museum in London will inspire us all!
