7 Days to Christmas

It is a nice cold winter's day. We had one day with mild weather yesterday, typical for this pre-Christmas time. Philip's on a sleep-over, Tia and Mum and Dad are home.

Having Lutefisk for dinner a little later. Very Norwegian, served with bacon fat, pea stew, potatoes, beer and a small aqua vita. That's it.

For some this is what they eat on Christmas eve. We have dried salted mutton or lamb ribs. Steamed.

We usually end the day early on Fridays, round one or two pm. Especially now so close to Christmas. People have things to fix. Houses to clean, presents to buy. So we have to make room for that as well. Unemployed or not, Christmas is coming up.

This week has also seen class organized activities at school. Singing, performing plays and dancing. Food and drink of course. Mostly cakes and coffee, soft drinks for the kids. Tia's class on Monday, Philip's on Wednesday. Philip and 5 friends had created a break dance they performed. They call themselves six-pack. Made a huge success. Especially since they came up with the idea themselves, headed home to one of the guys and practiced the whole afternoon. Called their teacher and asked her to perform it.

Now everyone want to start learning break dance.

So in a week it is Christmas eve, the big day, or rather evening. That's when we get all the presents, that's when we have the Christmas meal, that's when we go to church.

The fine thing with this time in spite of all the darkness, is all the lights. Before Christianity this time of year had its light feast.

Monday the sun "turns" and days start getting longer again. A couple of minutes every day.

In case there is no more time to write on this blog before Christmas, a very happy Christmas to you.

Advent

There is something special with this pre-Christmas season. I thoroughly enjoy it. This Sunday evening I have been writing Christmas cards, listening to Christmas carols, eating chocolate while Ingunn is coaching a client.

We have had a spell with very cold weather, extremely cold weather for Norway and this time of year. November was the coldest in a hundred years. Well I get used to it, so after a while it is not too bad, but I mean temps as low as -20° (C) is very cold. My problem with winter is that I get sore finger tips which can be very painful. So I have summa sumarum realized I'm not supposed to live here during the hardest part of winter, which usually is January and February.

But finally, yesterday and today have been quite mild, but still sub-zero, which is fine because temperature round or above zero makes the roads slippery and dirty. In this country they are using tons of road salt to avoid icy roads. Well that does not work when the temperature is below -8° C, that also means roads are quite "dry" and the cars don't get all that dirty. See what I mean? If you look around very carefully, low temperature has its few advantages. Not very good for the car engines though.

So can you expect a Christmas card? Could be. Keep checking the mail box.