Drinking for Denmark, originally uploaded by flickruser viralbus. Thanks for letting me use it!

My fatherland, Denmark, has been on my mind. Since yesterday’s Danish breakfast, at least. As a typical American Mutt, I glom, half-seriously, onto the bloodline that runs purest in my veins: the land of Dogme 95, Victor Borge, and a whole lotta Lutherans.

This article about Danish people being among the most content in Europe is hilarious. The writers just can’t believe that Danes, with their high divorce rate and less-than-stellar weather, can be so … smug with their lives. They hypothesize that Danes’ sense of contentment stems from (among other things) their blond hair and their victory over Germany in 1992’s European Championship in football. However, they point out that Dane’s classic cynicism pops up often. After a report was released claiming “Danes are the world’s happiest people”,

[the] headlines in Denmark ran: We’re the happiest “lige nu.” The phrase “lige nu,” which can be translated literally as “just now,” is a quintessentially Danish expression redolent, indeed reeking, of the sentiment “for the time being, but probably not for long and don’t have any expectations it will last.”

That’s more like it. Those are my peoples of which I am proud. Ann, my teeny tiny Danish grandma, was made of no-shit tough stuff — she was a suffragette, once lived in a sod house, and put up with my English/Welsh grandpa.

If you are jealous of my excellent roots, you may join me in an honorary fashion by finding your Viking name (scroll to the bottom of the second page after you hit submit). I appear to be Öndótt Sheeptipper: “Both your friends and your enemies think you’re a little weird.”

I’ll leave you with the surreal closing paragraph of the article that started this whole post. It’s bizarre and brilliant, and it just might be my Christmas greeting for this year. SkÃ¥l to all — at least lige nu.

In this humbug-bloated holiday season, with an undoubtedly disappointing New Year approaching, we do not wish to foster false hopes. Some tepid comfort might perhaps be taken, however, in the fact that if you lower your expectations enough you might feel a bit better next Christmas.

nablopomo 07 day 19