Molli Christmas!

I never did get around to posting the full version of the mysterious half picture from the last blog, so let’s start with that.

And now… Molli Malou’s third Christmastime. No, fourth. But the first one for which she understood who Santa Claus was and could anticipated the receiving of gifts.

This season also presented the first insurmountable obstacle of our bicultural family: while our American Santa lives in the north pole, the Danish Santa lives in Greenland. Neither parent was willing to relent on the issue and no compromise was possible.

This is how Copenhagen looked coming into the Christmas season.

That’s also how it looks going into the Easter season. And the summer solstice, for that matter.

And here’s how Molli Malou looked coming into the Christmas season.

And how Tivoli looked.

Molli Malou loves the funhouse.

And finally, finally, finally, we granted her the wish she had wished a thousand times in the past: a mylar helium balloon! The balloon itself, a snowman sitting in an ice cream cone, was nothing too special. But the look on Molli Malou’s face. . .

Christmas gifts had to be squirrelled away as soon as they arrived for obvious reasons (see our experience with the gift whose wrapping became mysteriously ripped in a previous post). But the boxes they came in provided endless enjoyment on their own.

One mid-December day Molli Malou came home from kindergarten with Julius the elf.

Trine explained to me that Julius spent one night at the home of every kid in Molli Malou’s kindergarten. The next morning the host child brings in the story of what Julius did at his house.

Mostly he just did what Molli Malou did.

I wrote it all up in Danish, and Trine cleaned up my errors. We pasted in a few pictures, printed it up, and bound it in the scrapbook with all the other stories from Julius’s recent adventures.

Here’s the text in the original:

Kære små Troldeunger!

Da vi havde været i børnehaven, blev Molli Malou og jeg hentet af hendes mor . Vi gik hen til biblioteket, hvor Molli Malou viste mig alle de spændende bøger og legetøj i børneafdelingen. Så gik vi over i Frederiksberg Centret og vi legede sammen på rutschebanen. Vi kiggede også lidt rundt i Fætter BR—der var så meget legetøj!

Så kørte vi hjem til Molli Malou. Hendes far var allerede kommet hjem. Han er amerikaner og så sagde han, “welcome home!” Det var sjovt at han kunne tale engelsk, fordi jeg har jo lært lidt af sproget og kunne sige “hello!” og “merry Christmas!” til ham.

Mens Molli Malou’s mor lavede mad, legede vi lidt i lejligheden. Jeg fløj en tur på en stor ballon Molli Malou havde fået i Tivoli. Og så så vi Jul I Svinget på fjernsynet.

Jeg var superspændt over aftensmad, fordi Molli Malou’s mor havde lavet risengrød. Jeg elsker risengrød! Jeg kunne spise det hver eneste dag!

Efter vi havde spist var der noget julemusik, og Molli Malou tændte det specielle kalenderlys med tallene på. Hun fik en pakke-kalendergave. Det var en lille lyserød hest med glimmer hår og en fe-prinsesse veninde.

Endelig fik Molli Malou sit bad, mens jeg læste, og til sidst gik vi ind i Molli Malou’s store høje seng—og så sov vi hele natten lang.

Jeg drømte om risengrød og rensdyr og en stor mand med skæg, rødt tøj og hue
på. . . hvem kunne det være, tror I?

And in English:

Dear little rugrats!

After kindergarten Molli Malou and I were picked up by her mom. We went straight to the library, where Molli Malou showed me all the exciting books and toys in the children’s area. Then we went over to Frederiksberg Centret and played together on the slide. We also looked around in (Danish toy chain) Fætter BR — there were so many toys!

Then we went to Molli Malou’s home. Her father had already come home. He’s American and so he said, “Welcome home!” It was fun that he could speak English, because I myself have learned a little of the language and could say “hello!” and “merry Christmas!” to him.

While Molli Malou’s mother made dinner, we played a little in the apartment. I flew around on a big balloon Molli Malou had gotten at Tivoli. And then we watched “Christmas in Svinget” on television.

I was super-psyched for dinner. because Molli Malou’s mother had made rice porridge. I love rice porridge! I could eat it every single day!

After we ate there was some Christmas music, and Molli Malou lit the special calendar candle with the numbers on it. She shot a calendar present. It was a little pink horse with glittery hair and a fairy princess friend.

Finally Molli Malou got her bath while I read, and at last we went into Molli Malou’s big high bed — and then we slept all night long.

I dreamed about rice porridge and reindeer and a big man with a beard wearing red clothes and hat. . . who could that be, do you think?

We bought our tree just a few days before Christmas. The ornaments came down from the attic. Molli Malou found her favorites right away. I guess this counts as a tradition, now: the annual shot of Molli Malou in her Christmas antlers.

That night Trine and I made the “Elf Yourself” thing that served as our silly holiday card this year. Molli Malou spent about ninety minutes of the next morning watching it over and over. When I explained to her how the thing was made, she wanted to take special pictures to Elf Herself with. Hence these poses:

But why bother elfing around when you can princess up?

The afternoon of Christmas Eve she made marzipan and chocolate nougat confections with Trine.

And while she was out for a while with Mormor, Santa made a visit to tell us what he had in store for Molli Malou that night.

(“What did Santa look like?” Nana would ask via Skype a few days later. “Like Daddy,” came the glib reply. But that’s all right… I had anticipated a certain amount of skepticism and explained to Molli Malou earlier in the week that Santa Claus is magical and can make himself appear like children’s daddies so that the children don’t get scared.)

At Mormor’s the first oreder of business was watching the final episode of Jul i Svinget, the Christmas calendar serial Molli Malou had been watching this season.

Then came the fabulous traditional Christmas dinner, then the dancing around the tree.

Then Santa made his big entrance and handed out lots of gifts — and Daddy was in the bathroom the whole time and missed it all!

And the next morning. . . Wow! Santa knew that Molli Malou was half-American and had come by our apartment while she slept, filling up her stocking and leaving a few more presents under the tree!

We spent Christmas afternoon up at Morfar’s, where Molli Malou enjoyed riding her new bike around in the back yard.

…And doing puzzles by the fireside.

One of the reasons there aren’t as many pictures as you’d expect is that we filled the camera’s memory card with about ten minutes of high-resolution video. So there’ll be video to follow. (This time I mean it, because I have five more days off before I go back to work!)

Merry Christmas!

No, wait. . . two quick anecdotes worthy of recounting.

ONE: Trine is picking Molli Malou up at Børnehaven. She finds two giftwrapped packages in Molli’s cubby. “What are those?” Trine asks. “Presents,” Molli says, “for you and for daddy.”

“Hm,” says Trine, “I wonder what they are.”

“That’s a secret!” Molli Malou squeals. “They’re mugs!”

TWO: This one works best as unadorned dialogue. The scene is bedtime, and Molli Malou has been difficult.

Daddy: Time for bed, honey.

Molli Malou: I don’t wanna.

Daddy: It’s time.

Molli Malou: Please daddy, I don’t wanna!

Daddy: All right. Ten minutes, then you go to bed.

Molli Malou: Ten minutes, okay.

Daddy: Deal?

Molli Malou: Deal.

(Pause.)

Molli Malou: Daddy, is ten minutes a long time?

Daddy: No.

Molli Malou: [CRIES.]