We have had a white Christmas indeed, against all predictions. There had been the heaviest December snows for thirty years (sticking it right up the gravy-trainers and chicken-lickens in Copenhagen), but the snow ceased on 22 December and the snow became hard slippery melting ice over hard slippery cobblestones. Then came the rain.
Morgan and his family arrived from Switzerland early afternoon on Christmas Eve, and we indulged – gallons of gluhwein, Puglia Primitivo red wine, schnapps, beer, coffee. After sixteen months in Europe we found ourselves actually missing Kiwi food, so we went traditional for Christmas dinner. A huge roast leg of lamb with roasted potatoes, parsnip, pumpkin, onions, and carrot and beans, lashings of gravy and mint sauce, followed by the not so traditional Danish apple cake and cream and we also had the not so traditional Danish Jule Schnapps, and included potatoes of the more Germanic or Scandinavian type – Hasselbak as well as caramelised potatoes and Red cabbage.
The lamb we bought at a Halal butcher. Great quality and cheap – that is to say, still very very expensive. If you go to a Dutch butcher the price is not as low as expensive, it’s astronomical. When we bought the lamb we had to convince the butcher to not bone it and to not remove every single bit of fat. Thank goodness we had the support of a Dutch lady on our side of the counter who helped stop the butcher from butchering our leg of lamb.
When we wished each other “Merry Christmas” and retired to bed, it was still raining, as forecast. But old Huey the Weather God had other ideas. He must have figured that a couple of old fart expats needed a little romance, because when we rose at seven, there it was – two inches deep as far as the eye could see. JJ sat at the doorstep drinking espresso and smoking his pipe as the light slowly came up. By eight o’clock there was morning twilight, and the birds came out, feeding on the birdseed and fat balls we hang on the lower trees over the fence from our little alley, and the bread we had scattered along the fence line. Great tits, blue tits, a red-breasted robin, a jay, all brightly coloured at any time, but against a black-and-white background of bare branches and pristine snow they are clad in unreal technicolor, like cartoon creations.
The sun rose at about twenty-to-nine, and the snowflakes turned back to rain and sadly the Christmas landscape gradually dissolved thoughout the day.
We are definitely not yet sick of Europe!
Tags: celebrations, daily living, family, snow
