Monday 31 December 2012

Christmas came early


As last year, and the year before that and... (you get the point) Christmas came early this year as well. My plans are there from early November, baking the seven kinds of cookies required for being a proper housewife and mother, knitting presents for everyone, make my own candles of beeswax, sew new curtains in subtle but Christmassy colours, scrub the fllors and ceilings and so on.

At least we got a tree

What did I manage to do? Well, I made ginger-bread cookies - twice. I made it to a cookie-and-sweetie making date with a friend. But arrived two hours late and with a baby M who would not sleep. We ended up chatting, cuddling the wee ones and eating sushi instead. 

I managed to order Christmas cards about a week before Christmas Eve, but wrote snd posted them the day after they arrived from the printers,and due to a fantastic address list saved from last year, I do not think that I missed anyone. See- I am organized sometimes.

With ligths...

Christmas Eve came and went without any hatches, so I guess I had nothing to stress about, but next year I will be having a project plan in Excel starting late October, and be so organised that even Pappa Kas-the perfect planner proud.
 That is if I can get started in time.Perhaps best to put a reminder in my calendar already now, as to not forget my perfect plan for a perfect Christmas 

and it was decorated before the 24th


Merry Christmas to you all- a week late. 

Monday 10 December 2012

Baby it's cold outside


Well, not anymore. We’re up to minus 3 Celsius, which is 15 degrees warmer than last week. 

We’ve just had exotic visitors from far far away. Amama Socco and Aixite Sebas came from the warm south to inspect their new granddaughter, Baby M and to catch up with their “oldest” one Little H( which is two and a half).
Mmmmm, chocolate
Amama and Aixite had eagerly followed the weather forecast for Norway on various websites and had become a bit concerned when the temperature started falling below zero and snow was starting to fall.  We tried to hide these minor details for them, as we thought they might postpone their visit if they knew the truth about the December weather. 

Before they came we prepared by buying spikes to attach to their shoes so not to slip on the ice. We stocked up on firewood, and found extra hats, gloves and other necessities.

When they arrived I was impressed by their good spirits, they dressed in layers and went out on walks and played with Little H in the snow.
I was extra happy that we could show them some of our Christmas preparations and they both had Christmas porridge (boiled rice and milk with a bit of vanilla). A tradition is to hide and almond in the porridge and whoever finds it gets a small pig (!?!) made of marzipan.

See and Learn Little H
Aixite Sebas also decorated gingerbread cookies with a precision I have never seen. Every M&M was placed carefully on the cookie in the desired pattern before glazing was applied as to test the symmetry and color coordination of the small chocolates before they got glued on the cookie. I started to understand where Pappa Kas’ sense of detail and thoroughness comes from…

After a week of cooing over Baby M and running after Little H they went back south with tales of cookies shaped like pigs and reindeer, almonds hidden in porridge, kids playing outside in minus 8 C, and real pine trees with lights outside everywhere.


They must think that Norwegians are mad about Christmas. And I guess we are…


Proud Amama and Baby M

Tuesday 4 December 2012

Ginger Galore


It’s the time of the year when you can make and eat cookies, drink mulled wine and watch soppy Christmas films all you want. 
I love this time of year and all the preparations. Not to say that I am keeping on top of things, but every year the planning, the illusion of the home-made presents makes me tingle with joy.  This year is not any different, but with two small girls I should lower my expectations.

On Friday we made Ginger bread cookies together with the “Skinheads”, who are not so hairless anymore. I guess I should go back to calling them Hanna’s post-natal group. 
This was the start of a weekend of gingerbread cookies. We baked and tasted on Friday, we ate at least a kilo of cookies on Saturday and then we made some more on Sunday.


Christmas is all about traditions and we have now managed to make a tradition of baking gingerbread cookies together with Sergio’s Senoritas (Ashley, Audrey and Adriana). We operate by the rule of when something is done three years in a row, becomes a tradition.  So now it is. 

Little H is not the most patient of girls, and she got really disappointed when we were not going to bake something she could roll into small or large buns. She was however good at handling the rolling pin, and extremely good at eating the Smarties and the other sweeties we had to decorate the cookies with.
So now our cake-jars are filled with hearts, stars, reindeer and small gnomes, all with a more than healthy tan  and dressed in icing, sprinkles and Smarties (most of them pink).

So what to bake next? 

Rather tanned, but I love the colour scheme 
Pappa Kas, Ashley and Little H in full concentration

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