Home Again

Madison with Webkinz puppy
Spencer showing off his muscles
New baby Parker

Family minus Kai

Trevor between Sonja and Aina

All photos taken on Christmas Eve 2007

On December 20th I picked up my car from Dentin Autobody. They did an excellent job. I was also thankful that the Martens accepted responsibility for payment as they had promised. I had some anxiety regarding payment. All arrangements had been made verbally and I was thankful that my judgement in this regard proved correct. After I picked up my car I made my way to Madison's Christmas concert at Springfield Elementary School at 9:30 a.m. The gym was packed with many people standing. It was a wonderful concert, well-organized, and with a wonderful variety of performances. Madison performed in the school choir in addition to performing with her fellow grade two classmates. Acts by the Cree Immersion and French Immersion classes added to the overall enjoyment. After the concert I walked a few blocks to where my car was parked, brushed off a heavy layer of snow and headed to Java Domain for lunch. I did a few errands in Peace River then returned to Grimshaw and spent the remainder of the day organizing my belongings for packing.

It took me until approximately 3:00 the next day to get my car packed. Once on the road, I called Aina. Turns out we were travelling very close together. We met at Fox Creek A&W for supper. I enjoyed the companionship. It helped break up the long journey home. I arrived home late Friday evening. On Saturday I unpacked my belongings and headed for Innisfail and Red Deer to do last minute Christmas shopping and to buy groceries. Sunday I cleaned the cabin and put up a Christmas tree with enough decorations to give festive feeling. (In Norway it is traditional to put up the tree on December 23rd, Little Christmas Eve.)

Except for Kai, the entire family was here for Christmas Eve. (Kai had fallen a few days previously and had to go to the Grey Nun's Hospital three times daily for IV antibiotic.) Our meal was very basic: a turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries, salad, turnips, appleberry crisp with ice cream for dessert. We kept our gift exchange simple as many us are feeling a bit of an economic pinch. In a pinch a Grinch Exchange (alias Chinese or Ukrainian Gift Excange) will do. Everyone bought gifts for the children. The adults participated in the Grinch Exchange. We enjoyed this but think it would have been more fun in a larger group. Jarl and Rebecca gave us a digital photo frame for Christmas. I hadn't even heard of such a thing till then, and think it is rather cool! Sonja stayed overnight on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day we enjoyed visiting while we did up all the dishes from the previous evening. This took almost 3 hours. The three of us (Helge, Sonja, and me) then enjoyed a leftovers meal and relaxed the rest of the day.

On December 29th, we had a Bjorgum Christmas celebration at my neice Nadine and Franco's place in Edmonton. The food was abundant and awesome. It dawned on me very clearly for the first time that my generation is now the elder generation. We napped, rocked babies, and visited while the younger generation played video games, Cranium and Liverpool.

This New Year's Eve was the first in many years that we have not had children or grandchildren to look after. We were actually free to go out but we didn't feel like it. We had a nice home-cooked meal and a quiet evening at home. I looked for TV programming about what was happening in other parts of the world (as I had in previous years) but could find nothing. I ended up watching a program I had never seen before: Island Vets. I watched surgeries on a Golden Retriever dog and on a horse! At midnight Helge and I watched the 13 minute fireworks display that was taking place in Churchill Square in Edmonton. What an anticlimactic end to a year!!

Today I did some more cleaning in the cabin. Glenn and Michelle and family are stopping by tomorrow on their return trip from Prince George where they visited Michelle's Dad. I had to create enough space for us to visit and the children to play. The cabin is beginning to feel like home once again. I return to work on Thursday and look forward to seeing my friends.