Happy 2018

It’s January first and we are steadily climbing our way through the Smoky Mountains towards Lexington in Kentucky. The mountains are not smoking today as they did on the way down:

Instead we are seeing ice coming off the mountain sides:

Luckily we have nice dry roads despite the cold.

Yesterday was a long day filled with good company and beautiful lights.We started out going to church with Doug and Birgitte, who then treated is to an extravagant lunch (Luca ate a brownie the size of a plate with icecream and fudge sauce, and did not ask for additional food until this morning).

We had a quick stop back at the house to walk the dog before we headed over to Kate and John for coffee - fellow Danes who understand concept of “eftermiddagskaffe”👍🏻

And then we tried to squeeze in one last outdoor activity - a visit to see the lights at the botanical garden after dark. It was quite a drive and we were not sure if it would be worth it, but it was stunning. Just being inside a tropical green house when it is dark outside is not something I have tried before. Outside was SO pretty. They had done an awesome job of adding lights to the trees in the garden:

Last but not least (after a sushi stop at Whole Foods for Kristian, Teresa, and I) we went back to Doug and Birgitte’s house to spend the first part of New Years Eve. Luca finally got to play with Ethan (those two are dynamite together - sigh😉) and we got to have some good old fashioned hygge! Very trendy in the US these days........

We went back to our house to watch the balldrop on Times Square. For my own part I was mostly curious to see if Mariah Carey screwed up her show, which she didn’t. But I do not understand how she kept on going wearing some glittery next-to-nothing outfit in that cold...... “Perhaps” she was wrapped from head to toe in flesh colored spandex!

Teresa and Luca decided to jump into 2018

And with 2018 featuring a visit from Teresa’s best friend from Denmark, I think it will be a good year❤️