Deborah and Folmer held their Christmas party in Tanjung Tokong on Dec 13 for a small group of friends. — Photos: CHAN BOON KAI/The Star
WHAT began as a quiet adjustment to life in Penang has grown into a cherished Christmas tradition for a Danish-British couple.
Deborah Song Andreasen, who is British, and her Danish husband Folmer Bach Andreasen have been celebrating Christmas in Penang for more than 20 years.
They mark the festive season each year surrounded by familiar sights, sounds and flavours that now feel unmistakably like home.
Both widowed, the couple’s paths crossed in Penang in 2016 and they decided the same year to wed.
Easter and Christmas are the heart of their social calendar.
On these occasions, their cosy home in Straits Quay, Tanjung Tokong in Penang, comes alive as their friends, most of whom are locals married to foreigners, gather around a table filled with good food and conversation.
Just like in previous years, their home is brightened with festive decorations collected from their travels.
“The latest addition is a wooden Christmas tree from Iceland.
“Christmas has always been a family event for us, no matter where we are.
“I go all out to decorate the house to evoke a sense of home, and also because I want to preserve these traditions,” said Deborah.
Deborah with her newest addition, a wooden Christmas tree from Iceland.
For Folmer, the striking contrast between celebrating the festive season in Europe and in Malaysia is mainly the climate where winter temperatures in Denmark typically hover between 5°C and 10°C.
“Over there, heavy coats, scarves and gloves are a necessity.
“Here, Christmas comes with sunshine where shorts, sandals and T-shirts are the order of the day,” he said laughingly.
The couple, who hosted their Christmas party for some 15 friends on Dec 13, said the celebrations in their native countries differed.
In Denmark, the main celebration takes place on the evening of Dec 24, with festivities rotating among family members’ homes from year to year.
Deborah prepares her signature Christmas cake 12 months in advance, carefully maturing it over the year.
“On Christmas Day, the dining table will be typically laden with Deborah’s honey-glazed roast ham, roast turkey and Yorkshire pudding while I take charge of the roast salmon,” said Folmer.
Deborah quipped that her husband was known among friends as “the gravy man”, a title earned through his unwavering belief that “gravy makes everything better.”
She had lived in Kuala Krai, Kelantan, in the early 1980s when previously married to a Malaysian.
She returned to the United Kingdom with her son and daughter when they began schooling, and came back to Malaysia in 2006, making occasional holiday visits to the UK.
Folmer, a former Royal Danish Air Force fighter pilot, said mutual friends had often mentioned Deborah to him during his time in Penang, but it was only on St Patrick’s Day in 2016 that they finally met.
Having travelled regularly to Penang since 2009 with his late wife, Folmer said he had grown fond of both the climate and people here.
After his wife’s passing, he made the decision to settle permanently in Penang, returning to Denmark only for holidays.
True to tradition, Deborah will only bring down the decorations on Jan 6, marking the 12th Night of Christmas – a quiet nod to old customs kept alive thousands of miles away.
For Christmas this year, Deborah’s daughter, who lives in Germany, will be back here with her two daughters to join the festivities.
For Deborah and Folmer, the decision to remain in Malaysia is an easy one.
“Besides the climate, we cannot get enough of the culture here and how people get along.
“There is genuine respect for all cultures, and that makes celebrating any festival here special,” said Deborah.
