This blog is all about the Christmas season and the celebration of the birth of our savior. Many photos may not be directly related to Christmas, but all the events occurred during Christmas time. I should have taken more photos considering there were many more opportunities. Enjoy :)
My parents bent over backward and then some
to help me move here to Norway and also by
sending mail, and packages here. This sweater
was a gift from Kristine and I to my mom as
a special thanks for putting forth such an effort on
our behalf. Kristine's aunt Elin made this by hand.
It's a typical Norwegian sweater. Elin did a fantastic
job. My mom is extremely pleased.
This is a Norwegian folk tale book we
sent to America to be kept at my parent's house
for our nieces and nephews to read or have read
to. It's in English so that will be nice for them.
Two summers ago I brought home whale
sausage which was very good. I'm afraid
that this year I couldn't find any so instead
I sent home bacon, moose, and red wine sausage.
Pølse is sausage in Norwegian.
This was a fun gift we got for new baby
Jace. It was more of a "welcome to this
World gift". We decided to send it for
Christmas. This character is from an old
Norwegian cartoon.
The cabin in the mountains received a tremendous
amount of snow recently so Bjørn and I decided to go
up one evening and clear the roof and surrounding area.
Bjørn is clearing the roof while I shoveled the pathway
from the car to the cabin.
With snow drifts, there was over one
yard of snow on the roof.
I posted this photo on facebook awhile
back but it's worth putting on this blog
to show how much snow there really was.
All this snow means skiing and snowboarding.
There are three steps leading toward the
main door of the cabin. There was so much
snow that the bottom layer was compacted and
acted as the new ground to walk on. It was even
with the first step. It was difficult to shovel.
The wall on the right is as tall as me.
Considering the previous information, Karl Newman
and I came up with an idea to earn some money. This
is our flyer for advertising. He's from the Upper Peninsula
of Michigan so we think a good snow removable business
name is "The Yupper Scoopers".
Christmas Eve was spent at Kristine's
uncle Arne's house. Including me, there
were six Americans. It was GREAT!
I apologize for the dark picture.
Kristine's cousin and I having a good time!
Anna and JD all smiles for Christmas.
As Christmas Eve approached I realize this may
be my first Christmas without snow. Here on Karmøy
we rarely get snow. The only time I've seen snow is
inland toward the mountains. I was happy that it
finally snowed on Karmøy for Christmas. The snow
is gone now.
For Christmas, my parents sent cheese from Wisconsin.
Not just any cheese, but Mullins Cheese. Mullins is
located just south of Wausau, WI. It's the best cheese
in the world. I was so grateful for them sending this!
Also, they sent a really nice cutting board that my uncle
John had made.
Kristine bought me skis for Christmas.
Now I can be more Norwegian by spending
weekends in the snow, moving from one
location to the other. It's what they do here.
Christmas day was spent at Kristine's grand
parents home. So all of the relation on Sølvi's
side of the family was there. Daniel and I have a
good time, basically always.
Daniel took my phone and took
many photos. He might as well be
a professional photographer.
He got a nice photo of Eivind.
So dreamy...
Kristine's little cousin wanted to be in
this photo with us.
Every year, this side of the family plays a game.
There are many presents in the middle of the circle
of people.
We roll dice and who ever gets a 1 or 6 grabs a gift
from the pile. Once all the presents are gone, round 2
begins.
During round 2, we get to take gifts from other people.
If you get a 1 or 6, you take gifts from others in hopes
of the 10 minute timer to run out and you have many gifts
still remaining in your possession.
When I was trying to take photos, Daniel got in the way.
This game was a lot of fun. People yelling and
moving all over the place stealing gifts from others.
Most of us were nice and didn't take gifts from the
younger children.
Daniel and Anna are happy with their gifts.
Kristine's little cousin got firewood. Lucky him!
I got WD-40. Never know when the
bike chain might need this.
This is our back window view after the snow.
Behind our home, there are a few trails.
It's fun to walk around back there, especially
when there's snow like this.
The snow was very wet because of the
mild temperatures Karmøy normally
experiences.
This snow lasted about 4 days.
After Christmas, Anna, Eivind, Bjørn and myself
went back up to the cabin. I needed to try out my
new cross country skis.
We dropped Eivind and Anna off at the slopes
so they could do downhill skiing and snowboarding.
Getting ready for the ski trip. My other
ski pole was in my hand during this picture.
I'm not quite good enough to ski with just one.
For those of you who don't know, Kristine's ancestors
immigrated to America in the late 1800's. This Amdahl
family has a farm now in South Dakota. This is a really
great photo that illustrated both farms. The original farm
in Norway, and the homesteaded property in America.
We got this photo as a gift for Christmas from Mim.
Last Sunday we went to Sandnes to celebrate Christmas
at Kristine's aunt Britt's house. The sunset was great
that evening. Much better than this picture shows.
The Packers are NFC North Champs!
I'm stoked, and cannot wait to see how
we they play in the playoffs.
It's typical for Norwegians to buy a lamb leg each
Christmas. The leg is salted and hung to dry. They
eat it by slicing thin pieces with a knife similar to beef
jerky in the states.
A nice view during a hike on Karmøy.
My friends dog Lucas posing near the
little water fall.
In the middle of Karmøy, there are freshwater lakes
all over the place. My friend Tørres and I
hiked for 3 1/2 hours around many of them
with our dogs.
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