Wishing you a wonderful Christmas.

It’s incredible how fast this year has gone by! I can’t believe we are right back in the middle of Christmas 🙂

This years Christmas celebration is being spent with my mum in England, and happily we get to celebrate it the “Norwegian” way, with our Christmas starting on the 24th. I explained it all in my post last year.

Our suitcase (as always around Christmas time) was filled with our regular Norwegian christmas dinner, jams, chocolate and a bunch of other little goodies. No “minimalist packing” this time around, with the exceptions of clothing, as there wasn’t room for much outside of food 😉

I’m sure some of you have found yourself in similar situations, dragging food “across the oceans”, for family members for special occasions, like maybe even Christmas 😉

We’re planning on enjoying ourselves with good company, great food, a few drink and loads laughs. And this is my wish for you….

I wish you a wonderful holiday, with family and friends, great food and a drink or two, days filled with laughter and hugs, loads and loads of hugs 🙂

Happy holiday everyone!

Happy holiday!

Wishing everyone a happy holiday and a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas starts today! Or actually it kinda started yesterday, with what we call “little Christmas eve”, the day when a lot of people decorate the tree and the house.

Today is the day we celebrate! Christmas eve is filled with Christmas dinner, a walk around the Christmas tree and the unwrapping of all our Christmas gifts.

Unfortunately since I have family in more that one country we don’t get to celebrate with everyone. Last year I was in UK at my mums place, so this year I’m spending Christmas eve at my step-mums place here in Stavanger. Fortunately mum don’t get to be alone as she is spending Christmas at my brothers place in London 🙂

Christmas eve celebration in Norway typically starts with dinner around 5 or 6, followed by very inpatient kids nagging us about “when are we going to unwrap the gifts” until about 8 or 9 when we dive under the tree 😉

Since Christmas eve tends to turn into a late evening/night, it means that Christmas day we get to sleep in 😉

Christmas day is still a day where family meet up for brunch or dinner, loads of cake and good family fun. This year we are having dinner at my step-sisters place, followed by a family brunch on second Christmas day (26th) at my place. Before some of my family members board a plane to go back to their home town.

As you can see, Christmas here, are a few days hanging out with family and enough food, to which I’m sure, will leave us with thoughts not to eat so much next Christmas, just as we did, last Christmas 😉

Here is wishing you a happy holiday, with family or friends, good food and drinks, and hugs, loads and loads of hugs 🙂

Happy holiday everyone!

Packing up for winter…

It’s been getting colder and colder outside, and it’s time to prepare the garden for the winter season.

On the west coast of Norway we never really know what winter we will have. A couple of winters ago we had so much snow it wasn’t funny (well actually it was 🙂 ), then there is the no-snow-freezing winter and last year we had a mild wet winter. So you see.. it’s hard to know what to prepare the garden for.

Last weekend, I cleaned up my water-feature and packed away the power, pump and lining. I packed away the pump/filter for my automatic watering system and cleared away some pots and plants.

I’ve started to pull my Begonias from the ground (have one big pot left I’ll take care off this weekend), I store the tubers indoors during winter. And I have one big pot of Dahlia which I’m keeping outside until the first frost and then it’s going in, just like the Begonias. Fortunately for me I have a friend that have a storage room that I can keep bulbs and tubers in (you see, my storage room is warmer than my house 😦 )

I’ve washed all my patio furniture and yesterday they were all packed together under the furniture cover (living in 807 square feet.. I have NO storage for my outdoor furnitures, except the pillows).

I have to admit, I’m not to fond of this time a year, when I have to pack “summer” away. It makes my patio (and me) a little sad 😦 The view from the living-room isn’t quite as cosy as it it during the summer months.

It’s not like I don’t like winter. Winter can be really beautiful, especially when we have those beautiful cold crystal clear days.

I’m just not quite ready to welcome the winter yet 🙂 Fortunately, I don’t have to, as there are still plants that are flowering in the yard, so I’m hanging on to “summer” a little while longer 😉