Britt Arnhilds adventskurv

December 10th, 2003

@brittarnhild

Again we are watching handball here, the World

Championship is going on, in Croatia I think it is,

and tonight Norway is playing agains Hungary. And

right now there is an extra break because the sport

arena where they are playing lost it's

electricity....and everything is totally caotic....

Well, I am using the break to write my daily letter.

 

Many of you have asked about my advent basket. What is

this actually??? So I will give an explanation.

 

First of all I must say that this is not a Norwegian

tradition, it is totally my own. We always have advent

calendars here. I remember when I was a child my

mother made them for us, 24 small matchboxes draped in

bright papers and with a piece of chocolate hidden in

each box, or other years it could be a cardboard

picture with doors to open and just small drawings to

look at each days. For our kids we have had alot of

different calendars, but the most recent years we have

wrapped 24 small gifts for them. I had a quilt where I

hang the gifts, but as some of them was too big I

started to use a basket. Our two girls have one basket

each this year. Then, some years ago I got the idea to

have a basket for myself, but instead of buying new

items for it I wanted to use things from my

collections, and use them to start decorating.

Traditionally we don't decorate untill December 23rd

in Norway, but after I started this basket this has

changed in our home. The main decorating will still be

the 23rd, but from December 1st our house more and

more transform to a Christmassy enchanted place :-)In

my basket I put, from my collections; an angel, a

snowman, a quilt, a book, a stocking, a magazine, a

snowglobe and a cd....did I remember everything????

Well, at least the first days it contents all this. I

don't have 24 of all this, so as the days goes by the

contents will change a little. I hope this explains my

basket idea.

I myself fill the basket every evening, and I myself

take out the contents every morning and use it for

decorations, play the cd, look through the magazine

and so on. My 7 years old Marta also loves this of

course, and is a very good helper.

 

I have been home from work today, have worked so much

this fall, and has taken today and tomorrow off. Has

planned alot of housework, but instead I have spent

the day totally relaxing :-) I have written alot of

Christnas cards, read alot, knitted alot, made a nice

dinner for the six of us, and really enjoyed myself. I

have already hung all the 5 Christmas stockings I have

in my collection, but today there was red and grey

yarn to start another stocking in the basket, which I

did tonight.

 

I had an enjoyable moment when the mailman came around

noon, the mailbox is always filled at this time of the

year....oh, I so much love staying in contact with

friends worldwide through mail. Cannot tell about all

the mail I got, but want to mention one packet

especially. It was from Donna (which also gets this

letter), and together with a letter and small gifts

for me and the girls (which will be put in our

stockings for Christmas morning), there were a

beautiful angel....and...an envelop with vintage

postcards. Oh, I love them, will display them on the

shelf I have for vintage writing equipments. There is

a postcard from Senegal, posted back in 1964, written

by some missionaries I think, and they tell that they

met Dr. Sweitzer :-) Isn't it amazing! There are also

several unused postcards from the 20's and 30's. I

love to get mail like this :-)

 

Well, this is long enough for you to read today I

think. More to come tomorrow.

 

December 9th, 2003

@brittarnhild

ON THE SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO

ME

SEVEN KOALAS CLIMBING.

Up and down,

And over, and under.

The climbing coalas began to wonder

Why it was I could not see

They needed a helping hand from me.

 

ON THE EIGTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME

EIGHT POSSUMS PLAYING

The big-eyed possums ran this way and that,

And one did his best to remove my hat

Thinking, I'm sure, it would help me to see

The poor frightened emu up in the tree.

 

ON THE NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME

NINE WOMBATS WORKING.

The wombats grew tired of waiting for me,

They worried poor emu might fall from the tree.

"We make a ladder from the broken crate,

And bring her down before it's too late"

 

ON THE TENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME

TEN LIZARDS LEAPING.

Pushing, pulling,

And leaping high,

At last I knew the reason why

Those lizards would not let me be

For I SAW the emu caught in the tree.

 

ON THE ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO

ME

ELEVEN NUMBATS NAGGING.

I climbed the ladder carefully

And reached up high into the tree,

While, from below, there came a call,

"We've parachute here in case you fall."

 

ON THE TWELFT DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME

TWELVE PARROTS PRATTLING.

The parrots watched, all perched in line,

And one squawked out, "You're doing fine."

It's not every day a bloke like me

Recues an emu stuck up a tree.

 

Now Mabel's present is wrapped up tight.

It took some time to get it right.

I'm sending a card and a photo too

Of my new found friend and that silly emu

 

......I would love to show you the drawings as

well...:-)

 

Not much to represent the season today.....working,

home for dinner, bringing kids to and from activities,

watching World Championship handball on telly,

finishing the pair of socks I've been knitting for

Marta, writing my daily advent letter.....

Tomorrow I'll be off work though, and very

Christmassybusy.....(wow, I just invented a new

word,lol)

 

December 8th, 2023

@brittarnhild

The funeral is over. A sad day, and also at the same

time a day with joy and thankfulness, a day we have

spent together as a family. It started in church at

noon, and after the memorial service there we drove

together to the cementary, about 20 minutes away. Alot

of crying of course. Then the closest family and

friends were invited home to my parents' house for a

memorial. We were about 40. My parents have a huge

house, actually the family house inherited from my

grandparents, and my aunt (who was married to my uncle

who died) is moving these days from her big house to a

small flat, so my parents house was the best choice. I

and two of my cousins helped with the serving, wow, it

was a busy day......I am not totally exhausted, but

also thankful for the day, and thankful to you all for

your prayers and thoughts.

 

There are tons of housework and Christmas preparations

I should do tonight, but I really don't have the

spirit. So I am sitting down with a mug of tea,

looking through some Christmas books and reading the

Christmas cards and letters I have got so far.....and

before I close here I want to share with you the

Australian 12 Days of Christmas poem:

 

ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME

AN EMU UP A GUM TREE.

 

ON THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME

TWO PINK GALAHS

There was no good reason, that I could see,

Why those two galahs should bother me.

I would have preferred to go on dreaming,

So I tried very hard to ignore their screaming.

 

ON THE THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME

THREE JABIRUS

A peck on the nose sure made me yelp,

But the kind jabirus were just trying to help

 

ON THE FORTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME

FOUR KOOKABURRAS.

When it comes to helping others

You can't rely on kookaburras,

They don't do much but laugh all day -

Disturbing the peace, then flying away.

 

ON THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME

FIVE KANGAROOS.

The kangaroos pointed. "Look there" they said

And tried in vain to turn my head.

 

ON THE SIXTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME

SIX PLATYPUSES

There was too much noise for me to stay.

So I jumped in the billabong to swim away.

Then found myself, without much fuss,

Brough back to shore by a platypus.

 

.......will send you the rest tomorrow.....

 

December 7th, 2023

@brittarnhild

I wrote my very first letter when I was 4 years old.

My mother still keep it in her Bible. And about a year

later I started my first diary. I still have ithe pink

little book, and read through it from time to time. My

girls also love to read it, and to look through the

pages. Since then I have written an uncountable number

of letters. Sometimes people asks me how many penpals

I actually have, but I can never give them a good

answer. Because I really don't know, and also because

I don't think they will believe me if I try to figure

out how many...... I have my address book, or actually

several, but how shall I count? The ones I write to

almost weekly, or monthly, or may be once or twice a

year? And what about all my online friends? After I

started to use internet about 6 years ago I write

fewer snail mail letters, but I have a goal not to

stop. Every January my goal is to write at least one

off line letter a day.......and when we moved to our

new house two years ago it didn't take the mailman

long to know that in our house we are letter writers

:-) Both my girls also love penpaling!

 

December is always a busy time when you are a letter

writer, and this year is no exception. And the

highlight of advent preparations for me is to write

cards and letters, to make my own design cards, to

find small envelope fillers and so on. And also now it

is a highlight for me to write my daily online advent

letter.

 

I slept long this morning, and woke up to breakfast,

prepared by the most wonderful husband in the world.

Two candles in the wreath were lit by Marta, and we

sang two verses of our advent hymn. After breakfast we

let the television on, there is always so much sports

going on at this time of the year. Marta and Terje

decorated the cookies they made last night, I wrapped

gifts and wrote cards. A perfect harmonious time :-)

Marta filled a glass jar with some of her cookies and

went over to our neighbours. And came back with the

finished aprons our neighbour made for the two of us.

 

After lunch we went downtown to the sport center

again, and watched Ingrid's team playing another

handball match. Which they won again! Our oldest son,

Torgeir 21, went with us. He taped part of the match.

In two weeks the team will play their last match

before Christmas, and in the evening after the match

we have invited the team home here for pizza. We will

then show them what we have taped.

 

It is the 19th birthday of my niece / god daughter

today. She lives with her family in south Norway, 12

hours to drive from here. But this winter she is

attending a boarding school close to us, and we are

lucky to see her quite often. Today we had invited her

here for dinner and coffee. She came with two friends,

so we were tonight 9 around the table. We started the

Christmes cookies after dinner, why is it that they

always taste so much better before Christmas? I had

also made a quite big cream and marzipan cake, and we

ate ALL of it. Oh, yes, we have had a very enjoyable

evening, in between eating and more eating we have

played boardgames and watched Norway playing in the

World Championship in handball.

 

Tonight is a night for resting. The last week have

been to filled with activities, now I need to just sit

down doing nothing. I am enjoying the old magazines

from my advent basket, especially one from a previous

day; Better Homes and Garden's Christmas Cookies, from

1998, and Victoria from 1993, not to forget Better

Homes and Garden's Christmas Ideas from 1992 with the

most charming cross stich patterns with a Christmas

Carol theme.....which reminds me that I have not yet

read Christmas Carol's second chapter.

 

Tomorrow is the day of the funeral. Please keep my

family in your prayers then.

 

December 6th, 2023

@brittarnhild

Every night when I write this daily letter, I say to

myself - tomorrow I will have more time and write a

more proper letter. Then every night it becomes late

without any time at all for writing during the day.

And today is just like the other days. It is now

almost 11pm, and these are the first minutes I am

sitting down during the whole day.....almost!

 

I was up early, and had the quiet house by myself for

an hour before Marta and then Terje joined me. After

breakfast the girls and Terje walked over to Granåsen

ski arena to watch The World Championship in Ski-Jump

and Nordic Combined. We are lucky to live so close,

just 15-20 minutes of walking. I walked over to the

post office, and mailed about 20 Christmas letters and

a few packets. It is so good to have started the

mailing, I always have a loooong list of letters to

write and gifts to wrap and send.

 

When I came home I started baking. In Norway it is an

old tradition to have at least 7 different homemade

cookies for Christmas, and I made two this morning,

and my husband and Marta made the third tonight. I

made krumkake, and something we call rice and

chocolate cookies (risboller) Oh, what a treat to sit

down when I was finished, with a mug of coffee and a

few mismade cookies.....there are always some which

needs to be eaten at once, which are not perfect

enough for the tinboxes :-)

 

The sportfans came back, we had lunch and wrote some

more letters, and then went downtown for Christmas

shopping. It is so nice outdoors now, even downtown

the ground was covered in white, virgin snow, and

after yesterday's snowstorm the sun was shining. We

managed to do our whole shopping list, (have more

lists though for later days) and then went to watch

Ingrid play a handball match. Again her team won, and

again we parents were totally exhausted after our

cheering.

 

Ingrid brought a couple of friends home after the

match, and we had taco here at home. 8 around the

table....I love it when the table is filled. The first

advent light in the wreath is now burnt down, a new

one will be there for tomorrow.

 

Tonight I have been helping at Ingrid's school, where

they had the annual Christmas ball for the students.

Alot of fun, alot of the most elegant kids.....and

these are the same kids we see everyday in jeans and

sweathers,lol

 

No time for Christmas reading or Christmas crafting

today, but a wonderful, busy day anyway.....and of

course, tomorrow there will be another day.....And

though it is late now I still might manage some

quilting. Marta is in bed, the three oldest are out

with friends (Ingrid is sleeping over with her best

friend) and Terje and I will watch some handball on

the telly before going to bed.

 

December 5th, 2003

@brittarnhild

The first candle in the advent wreat is almost burnt

down, five chapters are read from The Christmas

Mystery, the house looks more and more festive,

and......we've got snow!

 

Some of you have asked me if my days are always

bright. Of course thay are not, like the rest of the

world my days are filled with....life, both the bright

side and the dark side. In my advent letters I prefere

to write about the bright sides and the happy days

though, to cheer myself up, and hopefully cheer you up

as well. So why tell you today that I feel totally

exhausted after a long and terrible busy week, with

budgets and papers at work, with meetings, travelling,

endless shopping, driving kids to and from activities,

preparations for the funeral on Monday and so

on....... Writing these letters, and also getting

responce from so many of you, is the highlight of my

days. Well, at least one of the highlights! When I sit

down here at the computer and look back at my days

there are always so many things to be thankful for, so

many things I love to share with you all........Like

the smell in the house right now because we have

started baking the Christmas cookies, the soft music

from the cd player, our little angel Marta in bed

sleeping with a smile on her face and probably

dreaming about Christmas and the homemade gifts she

wrapped during the afternoon, the chat I had with a

colleague during a break at work, the absolute joy of

emptying todays basket making the house more and more

festive, the joy earlier today when I started to write

the Christmas letter of 2003 which started with

deciding which photos to use, which of course brought

back so many sweet memories of the months we have

behind; Easter in Budapest, summer in Provence, all

the week-ends at the summer house, a blooming spring

day.....Yes, the bright list is always so much longer

than the dark one.......and with this in mind I am

going back upstairs to write more Christmas cards, and

wrap more packets for tomorrows post.

 

See you tomorrow.

 

December 4th, 2003

@brittarnhild

 

I have just filled the advent basket which will meet

me tomorrow morning. The basket is quite big, and

looks so inviting here it stands on my work table

beside me. In the bottom is a quilt, a wall hanging,

log cabin in green and off-white with a little red in

between. The blocks are set to form a Christmas tree,

and instead of traditional quilting there are small

knots with embroidery thread spread around. I have for

many years used this quilt as an advent calendar for

our now almost 20 years old son Øystein, but this year

it will be hung down here in the studio.

 

In today's basket was the last of my snowglobes, I

have five in my collection so far, and they are now

all placed on a side table in our living room. So

instead for a snowglobe I put a stocking in the basket

for tomorrow. The stocking is beautifully made in

crazy quilting, Victorian style, made a few years ago

by my American friend Felicia, and truly cheerished

over the years!

 

Then there is an unfinished quilt, a log cabin, all

pieced together, and ready to be basted for hand

quilting. The back fabric is in the basket as well,

and hopefully I will find the time to baste it

tomorrow. Then there is an angel, the one for tomorrow

is truly amazing, as all my angels. It is made by my

artist friend Solveig Mjølsnes, and when we got it two

years ago it was at once named Umuriel by Marta, from

Jostein Gaarder's book The Christmas Mystery. The

snowman is also made by Solveig Mjølsnes and is the

only artist made snowman I have in my collection (so

far). Tomorrow's magazine is Better Homes and Gardens

Christmas Ideas from 1992, a magazine filled with

angels and instructions on how to make alot of them.

The books is a small one, though truly enjoyable, The

Little Book of Christmas Joys, given to me by

Antoinette a few years back. And the cd is Mannheim

Steamroller, A Fresh Aire Christmas.

 

The girls, my mother and I have been to the theatre

tonight. The play, Daniels Jul (Daniel's Christmas) is

based on an old Norwegian book, Mor (Mother) written

by a local writer, Leif B. Lilleberg. After work and

school we all rushed home for dinner, which was

already ready on the table made by our oldest son.

Then the three of us dressed up, and drove downtown to

meet my mother and have coffee in the theatre cafè

before the performance. A lot of children were actors

together with the usual staff at the theatre, and we

had two totally enjoyable hours. The play was so funny

and charming, and at the same time told us alot about

how to be kind to each other at Christmas as well as

all year round.

 

We drove my mother home after the play, and had supper

with her and my father, a homemade Quiche

Lorraine.......yes, I know, I am totally spoiled.

 

Seems like I have to stop here, 14 years old Ingrid is

over my shoulder wanting to use the computer. See you

all tomorrow.

 

December 3rd, 2003

@brittarnhild

In my advent basket today I had put a book by Maeve

Binchy, This Year It Will Be Different. This is a

collection of Christmas stories, and on the plane and

airport train to and from Oslo I read the whole book.

It put me in a great Christmas mood, though many of

her stories are about frustrated women......

 

After the meeting in Oslo I had one hour before I had

to catch the train out to the airport, and I had

planned this time well. I travel alot to Oslo and know

the city well, so I knew where to find the shops I

wanted. First I went to a china shop and bought four

more pieces of Spode china, two dinner plates (we now

have 10) and two mugs. There are no shops where they

sell Spode here in Trondheim, so every year I buy a

few pieces when I go to Oslo in December. The next

shop was a bookstore where I bought the board game

Santa Clause is going to give our family this year - I

am so honored that Santa let me be his helper when it

comes to buying "the annual game". Last year we got

Rummy, this year I found an antique looking big box

with a collection of old wooden traditional games. I

know everybody will love it. The last shop was a

craftshop near the railway station where I bought a

few extra items for the girls' advent calendars,

pearls, string and tools to make neclaces.

 

Tonight we have watched handball. There is a world

championship going on, and Norway played agains

Tunisie.

 

See you all tomorrow, I will find room for the basket

fillings now, the angel, the snowglobe, the snowman,

magazine, quilt and more.....

 

December 2nd, 2003

@brittarnhild

 

It is 9.30pm and I am just home from work. Exhausted,

and ready to enjoy some Christmas music and an old

Christmas magazine.

 

Yesterday my basket had an old Country Living magazine

from December 1991, oh, it is so nostalgic to look

through these old mags. Today I have Victoria from

December 1995 (Catherine, I think I got it from you a

few years ago)The cd yesterday was Mariah Carey's

Merry Christmas, and the one for tonight is a

Norwegian one which we phurcased a few years ago, The

Boy's Choir of the Nidaros Cathedral singing many of

the traditional Christmas carols. Yesterday's 12 Days

of Christmas book is an old American one, a Wonderbook

from 1956, given to me by Jan and her children last

year. Oh, I just love these old drawings, actually

they look quite German to me :-)And the one I have for

today is Australian.....listen to this:

ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME.

AN EMU UP A GUM TREE.....and so it goes, totally

adorable.

 

I also have a finished quilt, together with a quilt in

progress in my advent basket every day. The one I

"found" yesterday I took with my to work, to sew on it

during my lunch hour, a small red and white quilt with

windmill blocks. The one for tonight is all red and

green scraps. I started it many years ago, handpiecing

small triangels. It is already quite big, but I want

it much bigger and will be working on it for years

still. For me quilting is not as much the finished

project as the process of making of the quilt, finding

fabric, cutting, sewing together, admiring the texture

and the colours.

 

My dh has been to Sweden for work today and came home

too late to pick up Marta from school. I was a little

anxious yesterday because I knew I had alot to do and

wanted to work extra hours, but what about Marta? She

is still too young to be alone, and I knew the three

older kids were all busy. Then when I came home from

work yesterday my dh told me that a mother in Marta's

class had invited Marta to spend the afternoon with

them.....so this is my blessing of this day. I could

work extra hours and knew that Marta had the best

time. I picked her up on my way home from work, and

was invited in for a cup of tea and a taste of the

first homemade Christmas cookies.

 

I am going to Oslo tomorrow with the first morning

flight, so I will be early to bed tonight.

 

December 1st, 2003

@brittarnhild

 

Finally December is here. We woke up to a dark and rainy day, the best outdoor weather to make the best of the indoor candles! In Marta's advent calendar gift this morning was a special candle marked with 24 numbers, with number one on the top. When we burn it we will burn one number each day untill number 24 which is Christmas Eve :-) It was easy to wake up Marta for school this morning, she was of course eager to open her first gift.

 

Let me today first explain that a lot of the things I write about here is not typical Norwegian traditions. Over the years I have created many of my own traditions and mix them with traditions from my own and my husband's childhood. So the advent basket which I will probably write about a lot, is my very own "creation", to give me fun during this special month of December. Actually in Norway we are not used to start decorating the house until the 23rd, the night before Christmas Eve, which we call "lille julaften", Little Christmas Eve. It has become more common though to start decorating earlier, but

absolutely no indoor Christmas trees are up yet! The huge trees in town centers were lit last night though. It is a tradition for Norwegian towns to give Christmas trees to several European cities. You might by now have heard the story about the tree Trondheim gave Hamburg in Germany this year. It was in perfect condition when it was cut down outside Trondheim some few weeks ago, then on it's way south to Germany it was hit by a storm in the North Sea, and the tree which is to be seen in Hamburg today is something we are not proud of. Politicians and other people are now working hard to try to find a solution to this problem.

 

Back to my day. It is Monday, and therefore a long and hard workday for me and my dh. When we came home, after picking up Marta at daycare at school, dh and I made dinner together. We never do this,

usually one of us work longer, so it really felt like a blessing the two of us working together in the kitchen, and when it was finished sit down in our diningroom with our four kids. Such small things, everyday life, means a lot to be, may be another advent calendar should be; count my blessings!

 

After dinner I sat down with Marta to watch children's television. Children's television is really a "Norwegian speciality". For years and years we had only one television channel in Norway. It was owned by the state, still is by the way, and it was a policy to be pedagogical. So at 6pm for about 50 years now it is in Norway time for "barneTV" ie; children's television. And for almost all this time there has been special series during the month of December, the telly's advent calendar. Many series, all Norwegian, has been made over the years, and they kind of rotate the series over the years. This year it is "jul I Skomakergata" (Christmas in Shoomaker street) I'm not sure, but it must be about 30 years old, which means I have seen it many times before, but Marta cannot remember

to have seen it. It brings back so many childhood memories to see it again :-)

 

While we were watching our neighbours, an old lady and her daughter of my age, called and invited Marta and me over for coffee. The lady told us that she is sewing Christmas aprons for Marta and me and needed some measures. So we went over and had a very nice time together - another blessing, and it is still only December 1st:-)

 

I have now read the first chapter of Jostein Gaarder's The Christmas Mystery for Marta. The book has 24 chapters, one for each day till Christmas, and in our family we have read it for 10 years now. It makes me a little sad that our three oldest kids feel they are too old for it, or may be they have heard it too many times, though while we were reading today 14 years old Ingrid came and wanted to listen.