Two days after Twelfth Night

Is tonight fourteenth night? Anyway, we took our Christmas decorations down a few days before Twelfth Night because I prefer having them away before I return to work. As we took them down I took a few pictures of this chap, our red moose named Solvang.

We bought Solvang in a little town called Solvang in California. We visited it on our first American road trip back in 2004. Solvang is the "Danish Capital of America" and it was the first place we ever went to an all-year-round Christmas shop - the "Jule Hus", which translates as Yule House.

Since then we have bought Christmas decorations that remind us of places we have been on other trips. Decorating the tree - and then later undecorating the tree - is a nice way of remembering adventures to different places. 

The address of the "Jule Hus" is on the bag that Solvang lives in when he's not hanging on the tree.

We showed my Scandinavian Grandma our holiday pics when we came back She fell about laughing at the pictures of Solvang with it's tribute Viking architecture. We had also sent her a postcard that she found highly amusing. 

I've had a dredge in the archive and here are a few pictures to give a flavour of the place. 

Me, 18 years ago

The juxtaposed Viking longship and palm trees!

The Jule Hus Christmas Store is still in Solvang (and still at 1580 Mission Drive). Maybe one day we will get to visit it again and buy a companion for our moose!