Brunkager (Danish Christmas cookies)
I visited my partner's stepmother again. She is an inspiring, wise and incredibly beautiful woman in her 80s. I learn so much about slow, simple and sustainable living from her. When it comes to learning about sustainability in everyday life, for me, she is a greater source of inspiration and knowledge than academic articles and books. Usually, we talk about life and our life experiences, politics, Women, what unites humans, and ways to enact sustainability.
Every year, she invites her grandchildren to bake brunkager (Danish Christmas cookies) with her. Is it not a wonderful gift? She mentioned that over the years she observes more and more plastic toys being introduced into children's lives. Every week, her small gift to her youngest son was to pick him up early from a kindergarten and go to Copenhagen with him, to visit anything he wanted to visit (such as a library or a museum). They would have a tiny ritual, getting soda water and a cookie together. It was so until he asked her to do the same ritual at home because he thought that going out was too expensive (it's such a heart-warming story which also makes me think about financial literacy from a young age).
She wants to give these gifts to her grandchildren: teaching them a skill (such as how to bake and handle ingredients), spending quality time with family members, eating together. We talked about the fast pace of modern life and that many fellow humans cannot find the time to eat together with their loved ones. Isn't it better to stay late in the office and eat dinner at one's desk in a hope that this (often unpaid) overtime will eventually result in a higher wage that one can later spend on stuff? Isn't it better to go out with colleagues in a hope to network effectively? In my department at my previous university they would often have late evening events with wine and snacks. It is so interesting that some fellow humans chose networking, while others chose their home, families, or indeed themselves, or a walk in nature.
My dream woman gave a jar with some brunkager to me as a small gift. The jar was originally home to some local honey from a Danish island and belonged to her friend. The friend gave her homemade cookies as a gift in this jar, and now the jar is in my possession.
She asked me if I wanted her to knit some clothes or blankets for my yet unborn child. Over the years, she has knitted many items for her grandchildren, her household and for her husband. These days, she has pain in her hands and cannot knit much, but she said that if she knits little by little, she could have something ready for when the baby is born.