Mrs. Henriksen's Christmas

Mrs. Henriksen is a kind, bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed lady.
She is an ordinary Danish lady from Bornholm island,
yet she has an extraordinary enthusiasm and passion for Christmas.
Today, I visited her and her family's house situated to the near
of the center of Roenne, the largest city of Bornholm. As the matter of fact,
to see her Christmas decoration was not my original purpose, it was
to visit the family Henriksen. But as soon as I stepped into her living room,
I could not help noting the Christmas ornaments which had totally occupied
every possible space, windows, walls, ceiling, floor and everything.
It was not only extraordinarily extraordinary, but also extraordinarily beautiful.

-This really represents a good (and an extreme) picture of Denmark, I said.
-I love Christmas, said Mrs. Henriksen, with a gratified tone.

I was really deeply impressed by Mrs Henriksens devotion to the work, which
I personally wish to award first prize of "Christmas house decoration 2001".
On her wall there were numbers of "Bo bedre (Live Better)", a Danish interior
magazine hang in a magazine rack, so I imagined, that she had been engaged in the matter both practically and theoretically.
When December draws close, it is time for Mrs. Henriksen to set to work on the Christmas decoration of the year. The decoration should be ready
by the 1st. December. Yes, it should absolutely be ready by the day, and at that time Mrs. Henriksen is a little worried if she can be ready in time.
It takes almost 3 days to make decoration ready, and another 3 days to away
it off again. Most of the small ornaments she has had for years.

-Isn't it expensive to buy all the ornaments? I asked.
-No, No, "recycle", you know.
-It also takes time to put things back in the boxes in a correct way!
said Mrs. Henriksen, again with a gratified tone.

Julenisse (in English, goblin or gnome, but not exactly same),
small people with Christmas costume play a big roll in Danish Christmas.
The tradition of julenisse is a combination of old Danish tradition

and modern inspirations from other countries. In old days, a julenisse,
in possessions of supernatural power, resided in the barn of each farmhouse
and watched if the farmer had a good harvest.
Today, a julenisse still is of good personality and likes to come a joke on people.
During December, small children get a small present from julenisse,
when they wake up each morning.
The favorite food of julenisse is "risengroed (a kind of rise pudding)", which is traditional Christmas dessert.

Mrs. Henriksens ornaments include; mobils with paperclips formed into Christmas related motives, ribbons, golden balls, pinecones, twigs, plants, julenisse dolls, stokings, glasses, year bottles from Holmegaard, boxes, cookies and chockolates, stars, hearts, angels, and so on.

Every Danish child gets "at least" one Julekalender(Christmas calendar) in the beginning of December. It is such a calendar with dated small windows, and you open one window by a day until the 24 th. Some calendars include chocolates or candies inside. At Mrs. Henriksens home there are three children, two of them are grown, and there are about ten calendars, that will say, at least three