…brings back the Christmas spirit…

…Kristian loves to sit on the counter when the food is prepared…

…Wish I could say that this is a typical Norwegian Christmas dinner, but it`s not. This is dried salt meat cooked in milk for about 24 hours. This is served in my sister in law`s childhood home and she has continued the tradition in her own home. It took me about 15 years before I found the courage to taste and five more to like it. Now I can`t imagine Christmas without it. This Christmas with the whole family ( and a new daughter in law) in the house she served two courses:)

A little quiet moment between grandpa and baby Tor Magnus before dinner is served.

With just a few days left of 2009 my thoughts are occupied with the new year. 2010. 30 – 40 years ago we were given school assignments to write essays about this year. How would the world be? Where would we be? What would we be doing? I can`t remember having any big plans and that`s okay. What worries me is that I still don`t have any big plans…

…was to fly the helicopter…

It is a tradition in my family to buy something the big boys wants to play with for Christmas. Toys for big boys:) They can`t wait to play with it. And the little boy also wants to play along. When I came to my brother`s place December 24 all little Kristian wanted to do was flying the helicopter. Nothing else would do. He should be taking a nap before the big night but no…he kept nagging his grandma to take him outside flying the helicopter. Only – grandma had no idea how to do that. And the batteries needed to be charged and….

Not an easy day for this little guy…

A little attitude and a little worked up before getting the gifts. He did lighten up once it was time for the gifts:)

…Still celebrating Christmas. Most of all I just want to skip right ahead to Christmas Eve but I better continue where I left. So here are the two monkeys waiting for dinner at the grandparents place…

A little singing before dinner puts everyone in a good mood? Or what?

Our baby has discovered the railway and wants to play along with his brother and sister.

Grandpa makes one more try for the Christmas photo…

…the best thing I can say about this: …they do have fun! The big question is – why is there a doll in every photo?

The fourth Sunday in Advent grandma and grandpa goes to Trondheim to help uncle Tor and Marita to move into their new apartment. That means no extra fun for the kids.

We are almost there but first we have to celebrate “Little Christmas Eve”.

Clean and calm after their Christmas bath at grandma`s. It is time for a Christmas movie.

The last attempt for the Christmas photo:)  Kristian is so cute watching the movie, his face show all the emotions going on. Then it`s time to unwrap the last of the Advent gifts.

No wonder the kids had a stressful night before the big evening:)

I messed up and forgot to save the images before deleting after print, so I  had to scan all of them to be able to upload to the blog. That explaine all the strange colours. And I upgraded all my photo programs during Christmas so I did not have control of what I was doing. Not at all.

After three days off work I am ready to go back in the morning. We still celebrate Christmas here in Norway – got to eat.  Thankful that we have shorter days at work this week.

…In Norway we celebrate “Little Christmas Eve” this evening. Well, I guess  most are putting the finishing touch on the decorating and the gifts. Some are fortunate enough to sit by the fireplace and enjoy the lights on the Christmas tree. Others  are blessed with another workday tomorrow morning. Like me.

Sometime the best laid plan fails. Life happens.

They were to be given a little gift everyday during Advent, but life happens, and that turned “Little Christmas Eve” into a little warm up party for tomorrow night…

Elin and Kristian have had their Christmas bath in grandma`s tub and they found pj`s in today`s gift. Hm…we forgot to buy one for the baby

 Wish I could say that I had everything under control one hour before December 24, but at least the last of the gifts are wrapped…

I wish everyone a peaceful celebration wherever you are!

…She has a firm grip and she is so confident in whatever she is involved in…

…of course – her little brother has to wait in line for his turn. I guess he can wait – since he is in charge of the sweets…

…something he takes advantage of.

Monday was a cold day. Outside and inside. And I can feel the familiar feeling of panick these last days before Christmas. In my next life I will not work with anything involving food and Christmas. I say that every December 22 and every day for the rest of the year. In January I cannot wait for next December:)

…And we can start the count down. I bet there are a lot of kids out there that can`t wait. We open our gifts in the evening December 24 and that means we are getting close to the big evening.

These two are fighting grandma to be the first one to help…For a moment Kristian was happy with the candy bag…

…but that was only for a moment…

He is so ready to get into the action.

Do you think grandma is ready to render control of the gingerbread house to these to gangsters? You have to wait and see:) I did add some paper and embellish to the pages but my scanner acted up on me so I had to go with the print version here.

We are getting closer to the big day…

          Santa and I are ready. Are you?

…Grandma`s little helpers…

…I have no idea why Kristian feels the need to be armed with a pistol? Maybe to protect his turf when they decorate the gingerbread house?

…Because sometimes it is good to be armed when dealing with big sisters and candy:)

…The fourth Sunday in Advent and I have given up on keeping the house warm. I have closed the doors and centered all the heating in the hall and my workspace. Still – we are better off than the east coast of USA and parts of Europa. We did not have much snow in my part of the world but it is unusually cold.

I got to clean the house yesterday but I need to do some laundry this morning. That`s the main reason I have turned all the heating into my hall. In order to get the cloths dry instead of freezing I need to hang them up for dry out here.

@ Big Picture Scrapbooking Stacy Julian`s class – Library of Memories - (LOM) is up for registration. Are you ready for 13 weeks retrieving old photos, printing and sorting? You are? Then you better hit the purchase button – fast!

Wish I could say that I have it all under control…

…but, I doubt I ever will. Now – one year later I do have a system that works well. I do have a backlog of old photos that need to be implemented in the system but there are no need to stress about it.

I love the fact that when I see this photo of Kristian “playing” his grandfather`s piano December 13 2009…

…I know where to find a photo of his father Jan “playing” his grandfather`s orgel in the same livingroom – 29 years ago…

…and I can find a photo of Jan`s youngest son crawling at the exactly same spot – 29 years later…

…and it`s food for thoughts to look at this photo of todays grandma from Christmas 1980…

I am just saying that it is four years and three grandchildren since grandma Kjellaug had time to do her nails:)

This is the main reason why I urge you to do this class. It`s awsome to have connections like this at your fingertips. And if you need one more good reason – it makes  the everyday handling of today`s photos so easy. Everything have a home. I know some are worried about doing LOM and Cathy Zielske`s Design Your Life at the same time. This is a difficult choice because Cathy says this will be the last time she offer this class. I will get back with some thoughts about that later today. Now – I better get ready to put in some hours at work. 

…Kristian makes sure “the women” do most of the work. But he is a gentleman and take care of the entertainment. And look at Santa – he made it almost to the top of the tree. No wonder Kristian is relaxing by the piano. His ornament is already in place:)

…and there are gifts to be made!

Sure he can make gifts. He has been training for this throughout the whole year and he has just the right move to handle the glitter glue. I think he got that creative gene from me, or maybe not…

Outside my window this morning…

Inside my window…

Now – it`s time to get started with that last clean up before Christmas. I still have 6 hours before going in to work the evening shift. Best wishes for the weekend.

 …Decorating the tree…

Elin  knows all about this because it`s the third year she is in charge of the decorating.

Looking at Kristian now it is hard to believe that he was a baby last Christmas. This is his first time decorating the tree but he looks like a pro already.

It`s getting closer to Christmas and I can feel it in my body. I am too old to work 17 hours straight but I guess I should be grateful that I still can do it. Talking about grateful – take a look at this new blog. I don`t think I could commit to express weekly gratitude about anything. At least I would need to practise first. I would probably run out of things to be thankful for before the first month was over. I have to think some more about this.

And it`s still very cold. It was 10 below zero this morning and out here on the coast that is cold. I guess I have to bottle up some hot water again this evening. Okay – I have a long day ahead of me. Not 17 hours straight but close. Hopefully the weekend will be more relaxing. Or maybe not.

…She may be a tomboy, but she love the glam. Sneaking upstairs and go through her grandmothers make up and jewelry is one of her favourite thing to do. So she is showing her true colours when she grabs the Christmas tree ornament. The glam girl…

 Kristian is all boy and goes for the eatable stash. Good choise…

They both look so cute and cooperative, but I wonder how grandma handled having two little helpers?

The cold weather hit us hard. At least I am cold. Freezing cold. I can see bottles with warm water in my bed tonight.