On the 5th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, five Yulenissers, four Christmas stockings, three special wishes, 2 roller skates, and one very large sea kelp.
When we lived in Centerville, we had a dear friend named Else. She was Danish. Her son was a less-active member of our ward - she was not a member. Her husband had joined the church in Denmark as a boy, but was never very active. When he married and immigrated to the United States, he and his wife decided that if they had sons they would raise them LDS, and if they had girls they would raise them Lutheran. They had sons, so we got to know her through her son Ed.
Else would go to Relief Society with me. She lived with Ed and his wife, and they both worked all day. She enjoyed getting out and loved coming to Relief Society - back in the day when we met mid-week. She often went with me when I ran errands or drove in to Salt Lake City. She loved Bonny and Harry, and they seemed to return the feeling.
On one of our treks to Salt Lake City, we went to the Scandinavian House, a wonderful store that had all things Scandinavian in it. That might not seem like much to those of you who are part of the Ikea generation, but it was a very big deal to all of us. Else told me stories about Denmark, taught me to make Aebelskivvers, gave me treasured heirlooms from the old country that she said her family simply did not value, and taught me to make Yulenissers. (I'm not at all sure about the spelling on this one. You Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians will just have to forgive me!!)
Yulenissers are small little gnome-like characters that look a little like Santa, a little like an elf, and can be made of red yarn, cotton, and felt. I was the Cultural Refinement teacher and wanted to make one for each of the sisters who came to the lesson I was giving on Denmark. Else taught me to make them. I was working on them, but even though they are tiny and simple to make, I wasn't making very rapid progress. It had taken me all night to make about 5 of them.
Harry and my brother Richard were working on a cabin in Smith-Morehouse, which is close to Kamas. One night as I sat making Yulenissers and waiting for Harry to come home, I started to worry because it was getting really late - like after 11 p.m. I was worried enough to call the Elder's Quorum president, who made a few calls - a counselor in our Bishopric was from Kamas, so he got the "search and rescue" guys out looking.
Meanwhile, Brother Walker offered to come over and sit with me while we waited. He was a 6th grade teacher at the local elementary school and was immediately interested in what I was crafting. He offered to help me, and soon we had a respectable pile of little yarn elves on the dining room table. Harry eventually got home - they had slid off into an embankment and were going to wait until daylight to hike out - the engine was running to keep them warm - and this was not the era of cellphones so no one knew what was going on with them.
Later Brother Walker told me that he had gone home and the next day had made enough Yulenissers to cover the tree in the hall of his elementary school - and his own tree at home!! For many years after, I made lots of the little guys to tie onto gifts. We have a few still that go on our tree each year. And over the years I have seen many other versions of them.
My favorite "reincarnation" of them is in the Tomten books - but that's another post in itself.
Many hands make light work. And busy hands can keep scary thoughts at bay too!
I remember Frances saying that they would celebrate Scott's birthday on July 19th with a pool party at Grandma's - she thought a December birthday sometimes meant less fun and attention for the birthday child. It's a pretty ingenious solution - and fun!
