Velkommen til Norge

It was good to be back in Norway (it had been a 1 1/2 since our last visit). We had an amazing time with friends and family and a very special Christmas. This trip was much more relaxed then some of our previous ones, so it was nice to just spend quality time with the people we love. The kids adore their Farmor, Farfar and Uncle Tor and we all wish it wasn't so far distance between us. We have cherished our holiday and look forward to seeing everyone again soon.

Here are some of the highlights of our two weeks:

Party

On Sunday evening, Liv and August hosted a party with lots of relatives. It was fun to see everyone again and great for the kids to realize that not only adults speak Norwegian. Campbelle made friends with everyone... the language difference doesn't seem to interfere with play. 2nd cousins!
Leif, Tor, AnnaMor (Leif's cousin) and her daughter.

Leif's Bunad

Soon this will be an actual bunad - Norwegian national costume. 

The Nutcracker Ballet

After the performance, Campbelle is motivated more than ever to become "a famous ballerina on stage!" Thank you Liv for a fantasic evening! 

Fun with Friends

Campbelle and her new pal Sunniva. They didn't understand each other, but it didn't deter them from playing 'girly things' together. Whenever Campbelle would ask a question, she would just say it really loud and slow in hopes that she would understand.
Anita, Storm and Christian
Little sister Tinda, Campbelle and Sunniva.
Here I am, at the kids table eating heart waffles! yum. These are all the children of our friends Petter and Hege (ok, not all of them, our two are in there too). Campbelle had a little crush on Thomas (boy looking at the camera). He is 6 years old and at one point in the evening we heard Campbelle saying too him... "Can you show me your bedroom?" Oh MY!! Good thing Thomas couldn't understand!@! 

Gingerbread House

We went with a very globally, humanitarian conscience theme for a gingerbread house this year and modeled ours after SOS Children's Schools that are being built in developing countries. For more information on supporing improverished children and helping them have a better future go to the website: http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/ 

The perfect tree

Campbelle closely examines all the trees looking for the best one.
I think she found it! 

Christmas Eve

Getting ready for church.
All the bunad... what a handsome group!
 

Christmas Eve Dinner

After church, we sat down to a very good Christmas meal.

For dessert, we had multakreme or cloudberry cream. Cloudberries are special berries only grown in the mountains in Scandanavian ... they are sooooo good. And Campbelle has apparently developed her mother's liking for them as well (she started eating them straight from the serving bowl after her own were gone). 

Christian is all "norsk-ed out" (ok, not really a word, but he looked very Norwegian with his new boots, norwegian hat and backpack). He said he was going on a hike and headed for the door.

Music instruments... loud, noisy music instruments! Just what we wanted!! Thanks Bjorn and Marietta!! :-) 

Christmas #2

Yes, Santa does come to Norway too. Campbelle got her very own camera an she loves it! She takes pictures of everything (and I mean everything!!)


Campbelle got her first pair of ski from Farmor and Farfar. As you all should know, Norwegian are born with skis on their feet... we'll see how good she does with only 1/2 a ski!! 

Ice Skating

Campbelle tried ice skating for the first time in downtown Oslo in front of the Royal Palace. When she came off the ice she exclaimed 'That's not as easy as it looks!"
 

Christian - World Class Traveler! haha

This little turkey was not as cooperative as he was the last time we flew to Norway (he was just 6 months old then). This little man did not, even for a minute, shut his eyes to sleep on the 16 hour journey. In fact, even a state of sleepiness was no where to be found for him. Instead, he kept Leif and I busy reading, playing cars, coloring and everything else we could entertain hime with. Luckily he was always in a good mood and never a crab... but not too sure how nice it was for passengers around us - who were trying to sleep - as Christian continually tryed to engage them in a game of peek a boo! Leif and I were pretty snippy with each other by the end of the flight - for neither of us had a moment of quietness.... and it never helped the situation when Leif would point out to me other people around us (sans small children) relaxing and watching movie, after movie, after movie! As for Campbelle, she slept until I woke her for breakfast (an hour before we landed).

On the flight home, Christian did give us a small gift of a 30 minute nap. And Campbelle, she slept! again. 

Christmas #3

Yes, it is still darkness outside the window... everyone was up very early on Friday morning after returning home late Thursday night and not having fully adjusted to the time difference yet, so we decided to have our Christmas early morning.
Christian loves his parking garage.
Campbelle modeling one of her new dress up outfits! (Wow, did I hit Target on a great day - right after Halloween and all costumes were 90% off!!)
Luckily I made special arrangements with Santa to bring gifts a few days later. He brought scooters for the kids. They love them... we've only been out 'scootering' for a few minutes but I'm quite sure in no time I'll be chasing after them both. 

Happy Holidays

We are off to Norway for a few weeks and just wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday season. May your holidays be filled with love and laughter, family and warmth. God Bless you! The Brenne's 

Happy 40th Anniversary Liv and August!

Liv and August (my in-laws) celebrated 40 years together today! Happy Anniversary, see you in a few days! 

Delayed Reaction

Christmas #1

We have 3 Christmas's happening this year. We celebrated the first one on Friday night with Dad, Marva and Gina. The kids were very excited about all the great things they received. Christian got a dinosaur (opps, sorry Will, a Dragon) from the Gallaghers, cute hip clothes from cute hip Aunt Gina and Bob the Builder remote control car from Grandpa and Marva.
Campbelle got some Barbie dolls from Grandpa and Marva, Groovy Girls from the Gallaghers and a Haircutting chair from Aunt Gina.
Madison did a bit of secret shopping for the Brenne family and gave us this cute snowman. Thank you Maddi!
Now Leif is really ready to climb. He got a chalk bag from Gina. As for myself, I got a really nice espresso machine from everyone... no more Starbucks for me! I'm my own barista now!