LISELOTTE & NIELS JØRGEN THØGERSEN
Christmas &
New Year Greetings 2018-19
Dear
family and friends,
This year we send our greetings
from sunny Tenerife. We have now spent two lovely weeks here and will go home to Belgium tomorrow. It has been a very relaxing holiday with 24-25 degrees every day 😊 And we have also taken time to visit different parts of this special island, including Spain’s highest mountain, El Teide ( 3.718 m ). It is all volcanic. And the latest huge eruption took place in 1798
– almost a day before yesterday in historic terms. Tenerife is the biggest of the seven Canary islands, and it has about 900.000 permanent inhabitants. Around 5 mill. tourists come here every year !
We fully understand that !
Our year has
been a very nice one with many interesting travels in different directions. Portugal, Denmark and Oldenburg, Germany in the spring. A two-weeks lovely cruise from Hamburg to Svalbard with its polar bears and coastal Norway in June. Family
get-together in Kos in July. Our summer house at the Danish coast in the summer. The island of Helgoland in September. Italy ( Venezia, Bologna and Firenze ) in September-October. The visit to Venezia included my two boys. They had never
been there before – it was great to experience this fantastic city together with them. And now in December Tenerife. You learn and experience new things each time – also if you have been in places many times before.
And we are always ready for new adventures 😊
Our special personal event this year was our silver wedding in August. It’s amazing how fast 25 years pass by. We celebrated it at least 4 times during the summer. Never miss a good opportunity for a party.
Fortunately, we can also report about good health. I (Niels) have walked almost 1.200 km this year ! And we like a saying we heard recently: Die young – as late as possible !
We can also report that our young generation is doing very well.
Claus in Odense, Denmark, Lasse in Brussels and Cecilie and her small family in Perth in Australia. We fortunately see them quite often. Our ”Australians” will all four come to visit us for a week now in
January. That will be good fun. And we will have their visit again later in the year, incl. having our two grand daughters Anna Maria (12) and Zoe (8) for some days in our summer house in July.
And what about Europe ? And the situation in the world ? We follow with great
sadness how lies, fake news, stupidities, populism, nationalism and negative attitudes to other people seem to be « à la mode ». This is simply unacceptable and has to be fought with all guns blowing ! We
were all believeing that these sad and very dangerous trends belong to a dark past. But no ☹ We are all responsible for fighting against it.
By confronting people bringing these lies forward with questions ( Where do you know that from ? Do you also believe in Santa Claus ?! ) and by promoting real information and making the large silent majority of sensible people
aware, what is at stake, and that they also have to stand up to all this crazyness.
As far as the United Kingdom is concerned it is very sad to see, how the European rights, freedoms and possibilities will be stolen from the British people, including millions of young Brits. Their right to work, live, study
and settle wherever they want in Europe. Their right to be treated exactly the same way as the citizens of any other EU country, if they decide to stay there. And to see how the UK will turn its back to many important European values and joint activies
at a time, where Europe more than ever before needs to work together to fight for our way of life in a world more and more dominated by other big countries with different interests than ours. Trump, Putin, Orban and their
rightwing extremist supporters make no secret in their wish to weaken Europe. This should be – and will be – an extra reason to get our joint European act together. Let us see, what will happen now in the UK....
Perhaps sensible forces will ensure a much better future for the country – and for all of us 😊
The coming year will for us hopefully be as exciting as the old one. We have some plans already – others will come. I will certainly
continue writing my personal Cronicle ( Memories ). Good fun. It is almost like living the events once more.
We normally do not send you Christmas presents. But Liselotte has a special one for you this time. As some of you will know she is a very good and experienced cook. And she is actually
editing a special blog about dishis she has made and recommend. So far it is only in Danish. But enclosed you will find her English version of her recipe on STOEMP. A special Belgian dish of mashed potatoes and much more. A very nice dish
for the winter season. We hope you will try it out – and that you will like it !
With these words we want to wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas season and a great and successful New Year.
Warm Canary greetings from 24 degrees !
Liselotte and Niels
35, Avenue de l’Europe, B-1330 Rixensart, Belgium
Tel. 00322 652 0812
Mobiles:
0032 47 47 47 040 (N) and 0032 477 665 127 (LL)
E-mails: niels4europe@gmail.com Skype:
kimbrer
lilo25thogersen@gmail.com
Web: www.Niels-Jorgen-Thogersen.dk
www.simplesite.com/kimbrer
https://kokkentips.blogspot.com