Britt Arnhilds adventskurv

December 5th, 2004

@brittarnhild

Sunday and a new day to sleep long. This morning we were called out of our sleep by the phone though. It was my parents. They had invited us to supper, but had got an invitation to a concert in the evening and wondered if we could come for lunch instead. Of course we could! No problem! Marta had a handball camp to play before lunch, so we dressed in a hurry and made Sunday morning advent breakfast. With two candles to burn on the advent wreath.

Before going to the camp I checked my cell phone and there found a message from my brother with an invitation to the same Christmas concert as my parents were invited to - Sissel Kyrkjebø and The Trondheim Soloists. Sure, we wanted to go! My brother is a musician and played viola in The Trondheim Soloists. He was on his way home from Oslo after two concert there Friday and Saturday and could tell that the concert were big hits. Of course they were! Sissel is one of my favourite artists and The Trondheim Soloists are also a great orchestra.

This is Marta’s second year playing handball, and the first year they play in a “league”. With Ingrid as her older sister Marta has played almost all her childhood watching handball. Ingrid is her great idol, and Marta is thrilled now when she plays herself. This match they lost - actually the first one her team has lost ever, but none of the girls did mind. All smiling faces when the match was over! And a perfect celebration to have lunch with grandma, grandpa and grand auntie.

As I knew it would be the concert was great. Took us some time to reach Trondheim Spectrum as the traffic was terrible - seems like the whole of Trondheim was on their way to the concert. We made it on time, but half of the audience didn’t so we had to wait almost one hour for the concert to start! I didn’t mind much as I always love to watch the audience, chat with Terje and other friends and family on the seats close to us and so on. And when the concert finally started I forgot everything and was lost in the music.

After the concert Terje and I decided it was time for late cappuccino and cheese cake at our favourite restaurant. It is close to the river Nidelven, and when we sit there it is like being on board a ship in the middle of the river.

I had so many preparation plans for this second Sunday of advent. Found time to none of them but had an absolute perfect day with my beloved family.

 

December 4th, 2004

@brittarnhild

Saturday, a perfect day to sleep a little longer. And a perfect day for Christmas preparations. I was late last night because of the dinner, and though I slept long I still felt tired when waking up. Had a long breakfast, and then Terje and Marta started to bake Christmas cookies. Two chefs in the kitchen is usually enough, so I decided my best way to spend the morning was down in my basement studio wrapping gifts and writing Christmas cards. In most of my Christmas card I put a handmade ornament, a new one, my own design every year. This is really the part of preparations that I love. This year’s design is knitted, and though many of them were made in January I still have many to make…….so I must keep my needles warm!

A delicious smell came from the kitchen, and it didn’t take long until we decided it was time for coffee and a taste. Of course using the Spode Christmas Tree china. Why is it that the cookies always tastes so much better before Christmas?

After coffee Terje went out for cross country skiing, which he loves so much. I went for grocery shopping and for mailing out some of the Christmas post. The boy at the post office had a hard time with all my different packages, different sizes and different weight! Oh, what fun this time of the year is!

In the afternoon Ingrid and a friend took over the kitchen. They wanted to bake for Christmas. They made what we call “kokosboller, I have no idea of the English name, some very sweet and fluffy white stuff covered with melted chocolate and cocas. Absolutely delicious. Took some time to make, and in between we had taco for a full table - we are always so many enjoying something good to eat Saturday nights. And today we had dessert! Kokosboller and gløgg, the hot spicy drink with raisins and almonds which I have told you about before.

Late, late, before going to bed, I finished a knitted miniature Christmas pillow. There is no reason to have pillows!!! As part of my decorating traditions actually. But some years ago I got a few miniature pillows as gifts, and now I love them. I display them on a wooden tray carpeted by my father in law, and my collection is growing every year.

 

December 3rd, 2004

@brittarnhil

This time of the year is so dark here in Trondheim, almost on top of the world. Burning candles during the advent season is a good help to know that light is coming again, we just have to be patient. It is dark when we leave for work in the morning, dark when we return home in the afternoon.

Today is UN’s day for volunteers, and as usual we are “celebrating” it with a day filled with seminar and discussions here in my county. I have been in the group in charge of the day, a day with the theme youths as volunteers. Very interesting to take part in it all, but today suddenly something urgent came up which I had to do, so at lunchtime I had to run downtown for some bank work. I did not like to have to leave the UN day, but at the same time I was quite lucky. After finishing what I had to do in the bank (this had to do with part of what I do as a volunteer) I passed one of the bookstores in Trondheim, and saw a huge poster telling that the ARK bookstore’s Prize for the best Norwegian Children’s book were announced inside right then. Of course I told myself that 10 minutes more away from the UN day was no problem, so I went in exactly as the prize were handed over. And then, when leaving the bookstore I passed the marketplace where the annual outdoor Christmas market were opened just when I came. I walked around for a few minutes enjoying it all and planning that I will take Terje and the girls there next week, and buying a gift for my collections, a small porcelain angel, white with blue, silver and gold decorations.

Friday afternoons are always busy in our home. Then we have our children’s group coming for workshop, food and Bible study. We have invited all the girls in 3^rd grade at Marta’s school, and most of them are coming. Terje and I do this together, and though it is a lot of work we feel so blessed to be able to open our house this way. And of course the girls LOVE it. For the moment we learn about children in other countries, ie Laos since I have been there this fall, and the last Friday before Christmas we will invite the parents as well for coffee and Christmas cookies and a fundraising for a few families in Laos. Today we did a lot of paper craft. Used shiny coloured paper “glanspapir” to make Christmas ornaments. Some of them were decorated with pictures of the girls - very popular!

I had to leave the girls and Terje a bit early as I was invited to one of my colleagues for an advent dinner party. We are 8 women in my office, and we meet occasionally. Today we were invited home to Marit who started at our office in February. Had a lovely evening with great friends, a beautiful flat and the very best food. Came home after midnight, so there has been no time today for my special advent celebrations - my cd, book, magazine and so on. But still a perfect day!

Britt Arnhild Wigum Lindland, 2004

 

December 2nd, 2004

@brittarnhild

One of the things I love most about Christmas is giving away gifts. Handmade gifts, newly bought gifts, vintage gifts from my collections. I choose every one carefully thinking of the receiver, imagining what he or she will like, wrapping it carefully and then mailing it, or give it personally if it is to a friend living close by. The last week I have tried to leave work early, or have a break during the day for shopping. And my basement studio is now brimming with gifts to be wrapped, and hopefully cherished by it’s new owner.

I have been wrapping gift for our dear friends in France this afternoon (hi, MN, are you reading this, lol). So much fun to try to find something special Norwegian for the kids and the adults, and a special birthday gift for the mother Noelle - what a perfect name when you are born in December. I never have my gifts wrapped in the stores but take it home to find the “right” paper in my paper collection. Then, when wrapping was done the next step was to find a suitable box. And the perfect one to use for the gifts for France was a shoebox which came from Germany some time ago. My German and my French friends don’t know each other, but now this box makes just a tiny little bond between them, and who knows? May be the box will be passed on to other friends around the world.

My own mailbox is hot with friendly letters and packages these days. A stuffed envelops yesterday for example contained gifts from USA for me and the girls, and then a very special extra gift for me, a vintage Christmas card still in it’s original envelope posted back in 1948. The card is so beautiful and will be displayed during the coming holiday. May be vintage cards will be another collection for my growing advent basket. Another thick envelope came from Canada some days ago with the note; not to be opened before December 1^st! Ha, it was hard to leave it until yesterday! But I managed to resist and last night could open a cd with the most wonderful collection of old and new Christmas music, collected by my dear friend. And on the cover was a photo of my friend and Santa taken when she was just a small girl. Gifts like these mean so much to me, not only the gift, but also thinking of the givers, friends very close to my heart.

Marta has a friend here all afternoon. They are busy crafting, like they always love to. Now they have transferred a shoe box till a two storey flat, and are making figures to inhabit the flat using plastic beads which they put on a board and then I have to iron it to keep the beads together, we call it nabbi beads. They are also busy at school and daycare these days to make gifts. Almost every day Marta has a secret or two in her backpack when she comes home from school. And here at home she has several projects in progress. I think we all have a lot to learn from an 8 years old when it comes to the joy of giving, and especially selfmade gifts. Of course 22 years old Torgeir will love and cherish the red wine glass Marta has painted for him, and of course on Christmas Eve, when the gift will be opened, none of us will give a thought to the fact that Torgeir is moving to Australia in January and that there is no way he can take the glass with him. The glass will be stored away somewhere in our big house, and one day, when Torgeir is back in Norway we will find it and it will give him back the good memories of the Christmas Eve when his little sister was 8 and her eyes were sparkling just as much as the hand painted glass.

We had breakfast at daycare at Marta’s school this morning. They do this once a year in December. We bring meat, cheese, eggs, jam or whatever is suitable to go on the bread, the school provide bread, milk, juice, coffee and tea. And smiling teachers and burning candles everywhere. Just the perfect day to start a dark December morning.

It is 6 pm and time for the Norwegian television’s advent calendar, one episode out of 24, one for every day till Christmas Eve. This year the story is about some very special nisser/gnomes which are living in the blue mountain. The series was also sent a few years ago, and the kids LOVE it, and so do the parents. Here is a link for you:

http://www.nrk.no/programmer/tv/jul_i_blafjell_2004/

So I will go up to watch with the girls now. See you tomorrow.

Britt Arnhild Wigum Lindland, 2004

 

December 1st, 2004

@brittarnhild

For those of you who are new to my advent basket I will give you a short explanation I wrote last year:

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 until 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!

Well, back to today. Marta's gift was again a candle with 24 marks, and we have burnt it down to the first one during the day. We also lit the first candle in the advent wreath at least once a day- today Terje and I enjoyed it when we had our mug of tea in the afternoon, after watching Marta playing a handball match.

One of the things I find in my basket every morning is a small Christmas pillow. I have only three so far, working on the forth which is a quilted pillow, and have ideas for a forth knitted one. The first one I "found" was made by a friend of mine years ago - the same artist friend as is making my angels. It is filled with dried spices, and perfect for the windowsill at this time of the year. The second one is appliqué in felt, made by another friend, Kathy in USA. Kathy has also given me the third one, a felted moose appliqué on wool plaids. The advent basket is meant to be filled every day for the 24 days in December while waiting for Christmas. In the end there will be 24 miniature pillows there, as there will be 24 Christmas quilts, 24 Christmas cds, 24 snowmen, 24 snow globes, magazines, quilts, quilts in progress, mangers an so on. I have a long way to go to reach the 24 goal, but a huge part of the fun is to add some more finds every year. Today I did some Christmas shopping after work, and then I found the cutest Christmas stocking. Yes, stockings are part of my collections. All the five I had so far are handmade, by myself or by artist friends, but this one, though it is not handmade cried out for me in the shop and I "just had to buy it" :-) - Do you know that feeling?

Still an hour left of my 1st of December, which I will spend working some more on my handmade ornaments. See you tomorrow.

Britt Arnhild Wigum Lindland, 2004

 

1st Sunday of Advent, 2004

@brittarnhild

Yesterday was a busy day at home. I spent most of it down in my
basement studio with Advent and Christmas preparation. It was cold
and snowy outside, sitting inside was a very god choice actually,
and even better since I had spent hours the day before tidying my
studio.

I have been looking forward for today for a long time. Actually my
Christmas decorating starts the 1st December, but since the 1st
Sunday of Advent comes early this year I couldn't resist any longer.

For years my decorations have been stored away in boxes between the
holidays, but when tidying on Friday I made room for many of them in
a huge wardrobe we have. So now when I open the red wardrobe door I
am met by snowmen, books, quilts, cds, snow globes and other
collectibles. And yesterday night, before going to bed I filled the
first advent basket of the year - a finished quilt, a quilt in
progress, an angel, several books, a cd, a snowman, an angel, a snow
globe and a small Christmas pillow. And I left the basket on the
dining room table so it should be easy to find this morning.

8 years old Marta was up before me and my dh, and she had already
started decorating when I came. Seems like she enjoys this advent
basket tradition just as much as I do. Terje made breakfast while I
finished emptying the basket, and then we ate, the three of us,
using the Spode China for the first time this holiday. And
lightening the first candle in the advent wreath while singing the
first lines of the special advent candle carol.

After breakfast Marta and I went to church while Terje went out
cross country skiing. The countryside behind our house is perfect
now with everything covered in the white angle stuff we call snow.
After the church sermon everybody were invited to an angel workshop
in the church. We made a lot of fantastic angels. We have a huge
manger in the church, and the angels will fly over this manger
through the whole Christmas season.

All six of us had lunch in town today, at an Italian restaurant. I
love it when we are able to be all six together. The boys are grown
ups now and will soon move out of the nest to start a life of their
own. They will all still have the same place in my mother heart
though, and I so much cherish the moments we have together as a huge
family. Øystein went to a friend after lunch, the rest of us went to
Trondheim Spectrum sports hall where a handball tournament were
going in. Women's national handball teams from Norway, France,
Russia and Croatia have had a four nations tournaments, and the
finals were played today. France and Croatia played bronze final,
where France won, and Norway met Russia in the final. It was a very
exciting match, where Norway won in the end. Both our girls are
handball players, so a lot of our everyday life is based around
handball. So being able to see the national team win was great fun
for all of us.

Now Marta is in bed, it is dark outside, the advent star and a light
with seven arms are lit in our windows. It is time for the cd played
to play the first Christmas cd and me to sit down with a Christmas
book and a Christmas knitting. Advent is finally here. Advent, the
period when I give myself time to just sit down and be a human
being, sit down with a mug of spicy tea, sit down with a book, sit
down to talk with or just be quiet together with my beloved one.
Advent, waiting for the meeting between heaven and earth, when God
came down to us humans and became one of us.

Britt Arnhild Wigum Lindland 2004