Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

These lovely Christmas Days

@brittarnhild

Today is the 4th day of Christmas and we continue to enjoy the season. Øystein and Silje are with us for a couple of days and after breakfast today we walked out into the woods for a long and lovely hike.

Rain is predicted for tonight and tomorrow, but today gave us another taste of paradise. Snow in the trees, a blue sky slowly covered with clouds, a low sun and snow the colour called virgin white.

We had brought coffee and saffron pastries. Near the horse farm at Våddan we found a place to sit down and had our coffee while watching the horses.

One of the last days of 2019 turned out to be one of the most beautiful ones, reminding me that age often offers the best.

I am slowly getting into the mood of planning my new year's resolutions. Continuing to see the beauty of life, of nature, will be one of them.

 

Merry Christmas

@brittarnhild

A Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you!

 

 

 

Christmas Eve and only four around the table

@brittarnhild

Christmas Eve, the main day/night of celebrating Christmas in Norway. We are four around the table. Never during my 62 Christmasses have we been only four! Me, Terje, our oldest son and our youngest daughter. We really did have a most wonderful night though, making sure that all the traditions were followed. And late, after dinner, after opening the gifts, after FaceTiming the others, we drove to my brothers house and spent the rest of the night there. In a full house :-)

 

December 15th. Where do you have your focus?

@brittarnhild

Out in the garden today. A dried and frozen clematis flower, a little boy practicing cross country skiing on his new skis.

I was again reminded on how to focus.

December 14th. What are your reading traditions for Advent?

@brittarnhild

Last year during Advent I spent a week in London, partly work, partly measure. One day I stumbled across a Charles Dickens exhibition. Pure Joy! The picture above is one of the 6000 first copies printed of A Christmas Carol and a little text box told that this particular copy was sent to Willian Charles Macready as a gift from Dickens himself.

A Christmas Carol is a book I read during Advent every year and have done so for a long time. Dickens wrote it in a London where poverty, especially among children, was a huge challenge. Today 150 years later, one whole think that the world has become a better place. In many ways it has, of course, but still, poverty, also in the western world, especially among children, is a challenge none of us should be allowed to walk past.

Here is a photo I shot at the exhibition:

 

I will continue to read A Christmas Carol every year in December.
What reading traditions do you have at this time of the year?

 

December 13th. Santa Lucia Day

@brittarnhild

It still feels strange to have my Santa Maria morning coffee all by myself. A day filled with so many memories of smiling, singing children, sweet saffron buns, lussekatter, and hot chocolate. After dinner Terje and I will have coffee together and I will eat another lussekatt, meanwhile I start working on a Santa Lucia YouTube-video:

 

 

December 12th

@brittarnhild

With this picture from 2005 I am sharing another one of my old Advent letters, also this one an email from 2003, December 12th.

 

Marta and her 6 years old cousin Mathilde are finally

in bed, but it is not easy for them to get to sleep,

they both look so much forward to tomorrow morning. It

is then St. Lucia's Day, and they will be up early to

serve us "lussekatter" - sweet Lucia rolls baked with

yeast and safran to make them yellow. Here is what one

of my book saya about St. Lucia's Day:

 

In the forth century St. Lucia was killed for her

faith in Jesus. Legend says that after her death she

became a bright star in the sky. Swedish (and now also

Norwegian) children celebrate her fest day on 13th of

December. The youngest daughter of each family dresses

in a white gown with a blood red sash and wears a

crown of evergreens decorated with candles. She wakes

her parents and serves them with coffee (we use hot

chocolate) and special cakes for breakfast.

 

We have celebrated this feast for about 15 years, and

are always looking forward to it.

 

It snowed during whole last night, the snow ploughs

had a busy morning. In Norway nothing stops because of

snow, we just warm up our viking blood and go on :-)

Traffic took longer time though, especially home from

work..... so I had hardly time to eat dinner before my

sister in law and her two small kids came for coffee.

Lovely to be together, tasting some of the Christmas

cookies, and playing with the kids. After my sil and

her 2 years old Benjamin left, I, Marta and Mathilde

made the "lussekatter". And now when they are in bed I

must make myself busy to prepare the dresses and find

the special baskets for the bread for tomorrow

morning. I took a picture of the lussekatter, and will

take one of the girls tomorrow, and see if I can post

them next week. Must also fill up my advent basket. I

have only one more snowman left in my collectuon now,

and also only one angel made by my artist friend. Have

other angels though, and still books, magazines and

cds to fill in the basket.

December 11th. Mindfulness

@brittarnhild

I have left the bus and am walking over to the Archbishop´s Palace where I have my office. It is still early morning and as usual I have Harry Potter and Stephen Fry in my years. As I walk I pass the cathedral, and suddenly I have to stop, turn of the sound of the audio book and just look. The sight I see every day, the sight which changes every day. The cathedral. My cathedral.

I continue into the Archbishop´s courtyard, the sight have the same beauty and a word is forming in my mind - mindfulness. Yes, my mind is filling up with all this beauty, it is overflowing. Mindfulness, to be fully here and now.

I saw a new Christmas magazine the other day, with the title Mindfulness. I guess it sells like varme hveteboller, lukewarm sweet pastries, as we say in Norway. The weeks leading up to Christmas, the weeks of Advent, which are meant to be a quiet time of preparations, is becoming more and more busy, filled to the brim and beyond. Mindfulness. I am not going to buy the magazine, but I do want to live my life with a mindful soul. I do want to live every moment. I do want to carpe diem.

 

December 10th and a snow storm

@brittarnhild

We picked up our oldest grandson in kindergarten today and then the three of us went to our local church to watch a special play/performance written for advent. Two birds, both of them feeling lonely and a happy ending the two birds celebrating Christmas together. Very sweet, very touching. Afterwards we were served dinner, this special and very much traditional rice porridge, served with butter, suger, cinnamon and often raisins.

When we came out from the warm and very cozy atmosphere inside the church we were met by a heavy snow storm, making it quite hard to walk down to the parking lot where our car was parked.

Sure, it looks like we might have a white Christmas this year :-)

 

December 9th. The Twelve Days of Christmas

@brittarnhild

Many years ago I got this old The Twelve Days of Christmas book for Christmas. The book was printed in 1956, is hard covered, full coloured, with the text from the Christmas song and is absolutely lovely. I might be wrong, but I think this book came from you Terri.

A few years later I got another one, again as a gift, and then another, and another, and I realised I had a collection. 

When I started my Advent basket tradition I put one of the books in the basket every day, as long as they lasted. I have 10 now, all of them quite different. I love them all, and today I went over to amazon to look what they could offer, and ended up buying two more. Both of them real treasures. I will show them to you when they arrive, which might or might not be before Christmas.

 

By the way, one of the Twelve Days of Christmas Books I have explained the meaning behind the song. A stunning tale which I will share with you another day.