Merry Christmas from The Danish Aviators

Last week Danske Flyvere, the oldest association of pilots in the world, met at the Frederiksberg Palace in Copenhagen for the annual Christmas dinner.

Frederiksberg Palace is a very nice place with a rich history, and it is a privilege to meet there. The first building was completed in 1703 for the Danish King Frederik IV, and expanded through the years to a beautiful Palace and Gardens. Since 1869, it has been a home to the Royal Danish Military Academy. There are guided tours every month, and I highly recommend them – it is very interesting to visit the rooms in the Castle, and to hear all those exciting stories from the past.

I got there a bit earlier, in order to have more time for socialising with the fellow members. Our board met up prior the dinner, and used the chance to have a meeting (some of them are coming from far away):

When the right time came, Søren, our chairman, officially opened the evening:

Traditional Danish Christmas food was waiting for us:

It is always such a pleasure to meet – we don’t have that many meetings during the year.

New faces, old friends, good stories about flying, everybody feels welcome:

We cherish our time together, and our brotherhood:

I was very tired after a full-day workshop I was facilitating at work, and wearing the Danske Flyvere’ wings-badge at work definitely gave me extra confidence.  I wondered whether I’d be too tired for the Christmas dinner, but after just 5-10 minutes in the Frederiksberg Palace, the company of friends and the wonderful Christmas feeling did the magic, and I was happy again:

Risalamande, traditional Danish Christmas desert (rice pudding with whipped cream, vanilla, and chopped almonds; served cold with a warm cherry sauce) was excellent:

The meeting in December is quite special, because we are not only having a Christmas dinner, but we also play bingo. Look at all those gifts on the left our board prepared for the winners!

Last year I had my friend Anne with me, and she won so much – I didn’t bring her along this year! Enough is enough! Well, just kidding – Anne went on a scuba diving vacation, without me this time, because I had already booked my skiing vacation, and we couldn’t match the timing. So I came alone, with the intention to do it better than Anne did last year.

We bought our scorecards, and got ready:

We are always having great fun playing bingo!

With Mogens, we had agreed to sit together, and we joked that in that way we would win most of the prizes. And… we did! I couldn’t believe my luck that night. I always had that stupid belief that I never win, you know. And I never won anything. This is how an evening with Danske Flyvere can change your limiting believes, and your life, forever!

We left the beautiful Frederiksberg Palace, wishing each other a Merry Christmas.

I was so overwhelmed with all  those prizes, I didn’t know what to do with them. And I thought that there were people in our society that needed gifts more than me, and decided to give my prizes away to the homeless in Copenhagen. I knew there was a men’s home for homeless near the Central Station, so I drove there. Parked by its side, I used some time to observe the men hanging outside, and I simply didn’t dare to go in. I decided to find another way to help them, and drove home. And indeed, it was very easy. I found their website, and donated money instead of. It was really a relief, because I genuinely wanted to give those people something good for Christmas, and I managed.

May this Christmas bring wonderful gifts to you and your loved ones!