Havana, January 8 1939
Dear Marie and Valdemar,
First, we want to wish you a good and happy 39 and then thank you for the Christmas letter both the written and the printed. I made a Christmas Jumping Jack before Christmas and hung him up with a big yellow letter under the arm on Christmas Eve. Muse was very happy for the fine ladies with the fine dresses and Lars tried to make the Christmas Elves himself and drew the animals after the book but does not make that quite as good as the steamers. What he writes he writes himself after my example and I don’t think it is too crazy anyhow. He can also read several words but only because he has seen them often for example, he recognized the package under the Christmas tree where it said Lars on it. Our radio is called Zenith and that he finds sometimes in the magazine but he is very stupid to talk but now comes the competition baby Per of course soon. He is right on the ball, big and strong, and full of life. He pulls himself up on his knees now, wants to be along when the other two are playing and have something, too, when they are eating. That was fun with Marie’s twins but it really must be a lot of work and then with all what they have to wear in winter. I get dizzy thinking of it. Frederik couldn’t manage a Christmas card. He must be very busy to busy to scrape money together. Maybe we probably have to wait with the registration until one day we will walk ashore on Toldboden (custom’s grounds) he is American and you can be sure that he is being held down here on “Restmore” Danish territory. Our only goal is to pick out all the American out of him. And now we got away from Uncle Sam. We managed to cheat him for a whole lot of dollars. Other yachtsmen told that they have only paid 20 $for permission to sail to Cuba. Anyhow we had to pay one and a half dollars for permission to leave USA but we sailed off with a bill of health which didn’t cost anything and which otherwise has always been the only paper we have carried from one country to another and we said ,hombre” to the Cubans we don’t have any more dollars and they said “All right” and now we are here.
We did have Christmas in Key West when we got the invitation from a Swedish family for Christmas Eve. We stayed there and there was a Christmas tree, jellied meat, beets, liver sausage, and other good things. Lars got his inevitable chu chu train. And so, we had a successful Christmas. Peter gave a speech in the Methodist congregation and here he has been in a Rotary Club and next week he is supposed to speak for some Germans. A German warship is going to arrive and the German Club here is arranging an evening so now he will have to practice saying “”Heil”. Havana is a big city and a surprising tourist town. During the Christmas week we saw four of the real big tourist steamers here in the harbor all at the same time. We still have not tried any cigars yet but the cigarettes are good and cheap. Furthermore, life is cheaper here than in the States where it was terrible expensive. We have met a couple of Danes here; they have been invited on Tuesday. We enjoy the old beautiful buildings in Spanish style instead of the fast put up American ones, Spanish music in the radios instead of always jazz and nicely dressed people instead of to recognize the 50 cents and one Dollar dresses from a five and ten cents Woolworth store on the street. Never again I’ll set foot in the USA. Now I don’t have any more to scribble down this time but finish off with many loving greetings from yours enchanted Lars, Muse, Per Alton, Peter and Else.
address: General Consul Carlos Hindeo, Western Union Building, Havana, Cuba