Christmas Eve came and went. The pixies have been up since December 1st, and the girls have each counted down by opening a small present every day. In case you don’t all know, in Denmark we celebrate Christmas on the evening of the 24th, which was yesterday. In spite of the vast amounts of snow that doesn’t make crossing the country (or the continent) any easier, the whole family managed to get here - our mothers, my older brother with his family, my younger brother, and Mads’ sister. Mads had prepared the bestest Christmas dinner, and everybody ate way more than they could, which is exactly the way it should be. We lit the candles on the Christmas tree, danced around the tree singing Christmas songs, and presents were distributed generously to the great (over-)excitement of the three children. I think we had a wonderful evening.

Today we went for a walk – not a long one because it is sooooo cold here at the moment. We have been down to minus 18 degrees Celsius which is around 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and though it’s not quite that cold now, it’s still freezing outside.

Now everyone left, we almost have the house back to normal, and Mads and I are enjoying a quiet evening. And I want to show you my new SEWING ROOM. At least that’s what I call it. It’s been work in progress for a little while:

So, check out my new hide out!

The entire room, which will be serving as our bedroom as well. The new cabinets are all IKEA kitchen cabinets.

My table – my sewing machines are still under the table, but that is just because I haven’t used the room much yet – we only finished it a bit more than a week ago, and it’s been Christmas, you know.

2.7 meters of oak table top – I got this from Homeworks.dk, and I’m actually quite happy with their service. Most of the places that sell table tops the measurements I needed, are considerably more expensive.

Room for my patterns and sewing magazines.

Full closet for fabric, tools and all kinds of stuff that I need for my sewing.

I really love the room, and I can tell I will be using it a lot for all kinds of stuff – Frida has already spotted the opportunity to come sort her mother’s stuff, while I’m working with something else in there. LOVE it! I couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas present.

So there it is – A Very Merry Christmas to all of you guys out there!

Hi guys – long time no see. I want to start out by saying thank you SO much for the concern in shape of comments, as well as emails and messages on Facebook and Flickr. Don’t ever think you can just wander off in the blogosphere and disappear – no siree! I’ve missed you all, but I had to take a break, due to – busy life, I guess. No blogging as you know (not even blogreading), no sewing, and the camera has been taking a bit of a vacation.

Where were we? Oh yes, the kitchen arrived and was installed. The pictures below give an impression of what it all looks like now, if you want to see more, go here.

We are missing a few details, but we love the kitchen, and we so enjoy using it. The finishing touches will be there when we feel like it. The pictures were taken on a sunny day in December, and they don’t even quite show the kitchen the way it looks now, because some wall cupboards are missing, but I’ll show you sooner or later.

But so many other things happened during November and December, and I’ll just leave the very short version here – wouldn’t know where to start otherwise. In November they had mass lay offs at Mads’ work, which happily he avoided. Frida’s hearing kept getting worse, followed closely by her speech, which caused her to have new ear tubes inserted in December – it’s all much better now. My father passed away late November, which kept me busy emotionally and led to lots of thoughts. We all went to funeral in December, and in spite of the occasion we had a nice day with the family. And then of course winter colds, flus and the likes to top it all off. Just before Christmas Frida had the chickenpox, followed closely by Ronja on the morning of New Years Eve.

We have had our share to deal with over the last couple of months, but during the Christmas break we have done nothing but relax. Nothing! Stayed at home, gone for walks, watched movies with the girls, had friends over for dinner, spent an afternoon at Tivoli’s Christmas Market as we do every year. It has been great, and we could’ve easily spent another month like that.

That’s pretty much it for now – but I won’t be gone long this time. Finally I just want to show you the beautiful picture of Ronja walking in a Lucia parade in the day care – even though it has been a while.

It was a busy month. With me starting my new job, and all of us taking turns in having sore throats and then some. And Christmas of course – I know I wrote a bit about that already, but our traditions in December are very important to me and my family, so even though they do add a bit to the general bustle, we’re just not letting go of those.

Like going to the Tivoli Christmas market – Mads and I have been going there every year since we met, and it’s become quite an important event.

A while ago, we had some snow, and Mads and Ronja went sledding. I wasn’t feeling good at the time, and Frida was having a cold, so we stayed behind. I do hope we get another snow fall during this winter – you never know.

On Boxing Day we went for the traditional Christmas lunch with my side of the family, which is always a cosy event. We don’t get together too often, so this annual event is much anticipated. After lunch Ronja and I went with a few others for a walk by the fjord. Ronja had a cold, so she and I didn’t go quite as far as the others, but then we had a quiet mom-and-daughter moment instead.

I’m not going to say more about 2008. Now it’s all about 2009, and 2 days ago I actually managed to do some sewing. Just a pair of pants for Frida, which were needed, but I do hope that I will have more time for my sewing now that we’ve entered the new year. I don’t have any new years resolutions this year in particular – just looking forward to the new year in general.

The Christmas Tree

Yesterday the Christmas tree left the living room. With dignity – not many needles were lost during its stay here. The tree was brought home by all 4 of us in the beginning of December. It has been the first Christmas that we have hosted, so of course we wanted to try and do it as well as possible – trying to honour each family’s traditions. I think everything went well, and we had a really nice Christmas eve here with the entire family. In the evening of the rather passive 1st of January we lit up the tree again to enjoy it once more before I escorted it outside.

And now we have some space here again – the living room is not quite big enough for a tree that size. Speaking of that – we did also have this kind of crazy project with the living room in the middle of December. All the furniture was removed from the room, as the ceiling and walls were painted and the floor was oiled. We had our meals up in Frida’s room, and the girls and I stayed mainly upstairs, when we were at home. Well, well – I’m not going to say much about it, except it was finished in time for Christmas – and I’m glad it’s done!

So it’s 2008.

Frida

Frida is doing pretty good, gaining weight as she should and each day becoming more active and curious. She discovered her feet a few days ago and they have been the big hit. Other than that the hero-status still belongs to the jumping mouse above her changing table, and the racing bees above the bed. Not forgetting the big sister! All the before mentioned have a good chance of collecting a smile or even an enthusiastic laugh from Frida – Mads and I still have to work quite a bit harder to be rewarded with that kind of gesture. (Link to more pictures of Frida is found in the navigation bar to the right.)

Undercover

Ronja returned to kindergarten yesterday after our Christmas holidays, and the change in rhythm was much needed. Her boring old folks are definitely not enough entertainment for her, so it was great to see how she ran off with her friends as soon as we arrived at the kindergarten. The picture of her that I have posted is actually one that Mads took in October when we went to Vallø with Jolanda and Jakob – I just think it’s a really nice shot!

Today I met with my mothers’ group which is always nice. I think today was the 4th time we met, and we just always have a really nice time together. We seem to have loads to talk about (not just the babies…) and they’re all really nice. Also it’s a great way to get a network in a town where you don’t know too many people. The children are quite similar in age as they were born over a period of a month and a half. Frida is the 2nd oldest, but she is still the smallest of the babies because of her early birth. However, I’m sure she’ll catch up!

In general, there are many more pictures on my Flickr account. I just haven’t gotten around to posting the galleries here yet – I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.

One of the clearest signs that you’re getting older is definitely the pace at which December passes by. When you’re a child the days in December pass so slowly you think you’re never going to get all the way to Christmas, and even though you do somehow get there anyway, it feels like an eternity.
Now it’s Christmas Eve in two days, and December flew by. It’s great that our Christmas vacation starts today. We can all feel the need to spend some time with each other in the little family in Herfølge.

I got back from Shanghai in the beginning of December, and I had a great trip with my new colleagues. For me, the timing was perfect for getting to know them better as well as getting to see at least some parts of Shanghai. Of course, as we only had four days there, we didn’t have time for much, but we had a really great guide, and we left there with a good impression of China and Shanghai in particular. Pictures can be seen here.

Neon Vegas

Mads got back from Las Vegas too – I’ll leave it for him to tell about his trip, but you can see his pictures here.

Now all there’s left for me this time is to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!