Rice porridge for the Nystad nisser

If you are not familiar with the Norwegian nisse, you should really get to know him. He is fun! And you must serve him rice porridge on Christmas eve or you will be in real trouble. Time for Christmas lunch!

And who got the hidden almond this year? (Or rather Oh no, I forgot to buy almonds, what do we do? Here take this M&M and remove the chocolate! Ok!) Glenn did! I guess that means he will be very fortunate this upcoming year. :)

While we're waiting

Believe me, I remember how extremely looooooooong December 24th was growing up. It seemed like forever untill we would eat our Christmas dinner and finally could open our presents. To help Michael and Natalie pass some time, I suggested they could go skiing. I forgot to check the temperature outside and we had two frosty snowkids return from a five kilometer ski run in -19 degrees Celsius. Brrrrrrrrrrr.

I bet it felt good to come inside and take a nice warm bath and drink some cocoa and watch the Dream Prince in Three wishes for Cinderella, the Czech production we just HAVE to watch on Christmas eve along with Disney cartoons...

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas....

A little sugar, a lot of spice,

a woman shaped him - oh so nice!

He’s made of dough, and golden tan,

the closest thing to a perfect man.

I love gingerbread dough! I love the smell! I love baking them! I love decorating them. Eating them? Not so much... I also love baking with the children. Although this year it turned out to be a completely different event than what I had expected. Melissa was so focused and totally into making her part of the batch. She even used the rolling pin on her own. Good job!

These two rascals on the other hand, were having a lot of fun ~ not too focused I would say. Somehow they managed to produce some gingerbread cookies, but I think they tasted and played around more than their little sister.

As soon as the cookies were out of the oven and in the cake box is when Melissa decided she would participate in the pranks. She grabbed quite a few gingerbread men and bit their heads off and put them back in the box. Off with their heads!!

Walking with lit candles, Santa Lucia!

On December 13:th we celebrated St. Lucy's day. Nowadays in Norway it is a secular event where school children form processions through the hallways of the school building carrying candles, and hand out saffron buns. It was commonly believed that this was the longest night of the year, coinciding with Winter Solstice and Lucy became a symbol of light to the sun starved people of the North. (That would be me!) Lucia means 'light'. The people imagined Lucia as a shining figure crowned by a radiant halo, or even with wings, like an angel.

Since my children LOVE saffron buns we always have to make our own batch at home.

Melissa had tons of fun playing with the battery lights.

Oh Christmas Tree

As soon as the girls were out the door from Natalies birthday party, the Christmas decorations were found. Our first five Christmases were red and gold. The next few years were white and gold. This year we boldly changed to silver and purple. It is always fun to find decorations to reminisce about and I love the stuff the children have made during the years. I was given a branch of witch hazel from a friend and planned to find a nice spot for the homemade ornaments.

Let's have FUN!!!

Having your birthday close to Christmas can be a little challenging. There are so many activities going on, it can be difficult to find time to gather friends and family. I try to postpone decorating for Christmas untill after Natalies birthday party. This year we decided to bring a little of the Christmas spirit into the party and decorate gingerbread houses together. I was a little worried I wouldn't manage to put together all the houses properly and had to visit quite a few stores to find ten houses. (Yes, I was a little late - as usual). I decided to skip the burned sugar and go with frosting instead. After all I am quite updated on interior blogs (internal joke) and find all sorts of recipes and advice online. So thank you blog-ladies. No burn injuries this year. Everything went well and Natalie had a wonderful time with her friends decorating - AND EATING - a lot of sugar and candy.

Natalie started planning her birthday way back in June and has kept a small journal where she could write down lists and ideas for how she wanted to spend her big day. We went shopping at a big mall in Sandvika this summer and came across a Build-a-bear store. We discussed the option of bringing a couple of friends there for her birthday and from that moment, Natalie has looked forward to December to come. I was worried that the place would be crowded as it was close to Christmas, but everything went so well. I also wondered if she would decide it was a little childish and change her mind. Actually a 10 year old girl was the inspiration of the entire company. One person can really make a difference. That's definetely a message I would like to install in Natalie: Always believe in your dream!

I really enjoyed being a fly on the wall listening to the girls chatter away. It was a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday Double Digit Girl!

Your birthday this year was the BIG "Double-Digit"! Wow!

Natalie hit the big 1-0 on December 12th.
Top ten list to a brave and fun ten year old from your mom:

10) I love the way you chatter when you are happy
9) I love how you show great concern for your friends and want what's best for them even if it means that you will have to make sacrifices
8) I love your enthusiasm
7) I love how you are the sweetest big sister for Melissa
6) I love it when you and Michael laugh together
5) I am so proud of how you overcame your fears and visited dad at the hospital
4) I love the notes, stories and drawings you share so generously with your family
3) I love your passion for speaking English and am proud of your achievements at school
2) I love the way you try to develop your own style based on modest choices
1) I love your hugs and your gentle nature, it is so sincere and pure!

Natalie, we LOVE you soooooooooo much!

Music is what feelings sound like

Desperate times call for desperate measures....

Natalie is highly motivated to learn to play the piano.
I am on the look out for a nice instrument and hopefully soon we will have a piano to enjoy. In the meanwhile, Natalie likes to play the virtual piano on the computer. Haha. I love that she wants to express herself through music.

This is the grand piano my father had and that I practiced on growing up. My dad asked me if I wanted it, but at that time we didn't have the space we needed for such a large piece of furniture. It feels good to know the grand piano is still in use as my dad donated it to the Prøysen museum. My brother sent me this picture and I like to look at it once in a while. It sure brings back a lot of memories....

We'll see if we can buy a piano in 2011. :)

'Tis The Season To Be Freezin

Man, it's been a cold winter this year. We got snow early, way back in November. I don't mind the snow at all. I do not like freezing, though. The kids don't seem to mind. They are having fun no matter what. Here they are building the first snowman this winter.

It was fun to watch Melissa. She didn't quite know what to think about this fella.

Eat, drink and be scary

We made two small and one big jack o'lanterns this year.

Natalie was a great helper preparing the candy for the big candy hunt!

All ready to go trick or treating!

Michael didn't care for going trick or treating and stayed at home answering the door. Natalie on the other hand, was eager to fill her bucket! :)

Three not so scary kids on the porch!

Happy birthday, Michael!

On October 30th, Michael turned 12 years old! A much anticipated milestone!

He got an iPod docking station and is doing a great job being a DJ in the family, making sure the house is filled with music.

Michael has really stepped up to being the Man in the house while Glenn was gone. He would get up early in the morning and start my car and make sure the snow was gone. I think he enjoyed this responsibility and it really was of great help. At 12 he is learning to play the guitar and is a caring big brother to his sisters.

We are extremely blessed to having caring and generous friends! The first week Glenn was hospitalized, Relief Society provided prepared dinners for our family. Meals on wheels! :) When the future was uncertain and almost unbearable knowing Glenn was in a lot of pain, we were shown a lot of love and concern from family and friends. For that I will be eternally grateful.

As all trials this too will pass. Glenn is now at home. He is still going through treatment and pain, but it feels good that the hospital days are behind us! Obviously this has had major impact on our family these past few months, but due to privacy reasons most of our experiences will stay off-line.

Downtown Drammen

October and November was pretty much spent commuting between Vestfossen and the hospital in Drammen (the tall building hidden behind beautiful fall trees) where Glenn went through surgery. Here we are waiting for Glenn to run some tests before his surgery. We went for a walk downtown Drammen, crossing the Ypsilon bridge. The bridge has been given the name "Ypsilon" due to its special form – from the air it looks like a Y. It is pretty cool looking, you can see more pictures here.

To pass time, we enjoyed a lunch at the Drammen College cantina and spent some time at the library.

Strolling along the riverside of Drammen, you will find a piece of artwork called The River Harp and an Eavesdrop Device that is basically an interactive tool listening to the legendary Norwegian water spirit Nøkken, who lures people to drowning with his beautiful music. It was silent the day we were visiting Drammen, so we were safe. :)