Now here is something that probably would not appear on any cable channel anywhere in the U.S. Our loss.

The night before I left Copenhagen, I was packing my bag and finishing my trip journal. It was after 11pm. As is my habit, I had the TV on. Doesn’t matter what country I’m in or even what language is coming out of the tube. I’m always curious to see what’s on, whether there’s anything in English or subtitled in English. Sometimes I find a sports program that I can enjoy without any commentary.

night-night 1, sleeping with a straw reindeer

night-night 2, sleeping with a disco ball and wearing antlers?

This time, it was different. A series of video clips showed people sleeping. It was always an individual and, being so close to Christmas, each person either was wearing some kind of Christmas hat or there was a tree or lights or candy cane or other decoration in the bedroom. Some of the ”people” were full sized puppets. The real people were grownups, not children, the bedding looked like the most luxurious designs IKEA had to offer and some of these adults were clutching teddy bears or dolls as they slept! I probably would have gone to bed much earlier if I hadn’t come across this sweet but peculiar programming. A text display across the screen seemed to be counting down the time remaining until 6am.

When I checked out of the hotel next morning, I asked the desk clerk about it. Turns out I had been watching the late-night broadcast from the childrens’ channel. The sleeping people and puppets are regular performers on the kids’ channel programs. This was something everyone in Denmark had grown up with but I was so mesmerized, I watched it for more than an hour. No wonder these people are the happiest in the world!

night-night3, puppet

These are just still photos. If you can open the video clip, you’ll see that they move around in bed, though they don’t wake up. One guy even had a real dog trying to get on the bed with him. Hilarious!

night-night 4, man and dog toy with Santa hats