Holiday to-do's.

Playing, basically. Love it!

Fridge truths.

Fortunately, some things are eternal, indisputable, semented.

Two will always be two, and the wisdom of children is not to be underestimated.

More signs of Christmas.

Ronjas Christmas exhibition.

The Russian dolls are rockin' around the Christmas tree.



On "little Christmas Eve" (the 23rd), we wanted to see if our fjøsnisse was up for some rice porridge.
A small, but significant "thank you" for looking after our chickens.

And guess who came wandering down from the barn with a lantern in his hand?
(You COULD say that someone was very excited to see him!)

An example of Mr. Payne, on Christmas Eve.

Hope everyone has had a lovely celebration!

Signs of Christmas.

I'm not the most "christmassy" (or shall we say "-messy"?) of people, but some things stay on the list of to-do's before the 24th. In and around our house there are a few small traces of the holidays to come...
Pippi's horse in the disguise of a gingerbread cookie, for example.

...or the remains of our gingerbread house on the bird feeder. Ronja and I decided promptly after making it, that we are no gingerbread-house-making-artists, and part ate part demolished it.
Can't be great at everything, right?

Ronja made a mini Christmas tree at school today! She claims that she is going to bring it with her wherever she goes, so that anyone who has gifts for her can easily put them under the tree.

Cookies in a jar.

And last, the full moon over the hill. Not specific for Christmas, but still worth looking at.

Good evening to all!

Today:

Coffee, radio & Freja.

Worshipping each day now, only a couple of weeks until I go back to work.

What could be better than...

...a chilled out Saturday evening with the best company I know (Mr. Payne!) a tasty (hopefully) meal cooking in the oven, a glass of beer, Bonnie Raitt's enchanting songs, and thinking back on the fantastic night last night with my favourite girls! The annual traditional Christmas party was a great success this year too, with abundance of lovely foods, good drink, some real heart-to-hearts and of course dancing with our high heels on! A night I can live off for a long while!

A happy Mrs. Payne, last night. Thanks girls!

A grand day out.

We've had a fabulous weekend with the other Paynes - just like my previous post indicated!

On Sunday we invited my whole family over for a sledging day out, in our steep field which is perfect for some real action filled sledging. The brothers Payne got their competition instinct going, which was very entertaining for us all to watch. Grilling sausages on the fire and watching the sun set over the hill made the day just perfect!

Grandad and Stella went skiing:

In this run, the oldest brother Payne was the champion and the "little" one had to bite it...

Happy happy, joy joy!

Ahhhh, home alone. Waiting for the best in-laws EVER to come from England/Portugal to visit. Having a bit of wine, spoiling the mutts (dogs), checking on the girls snoring away in their beds. The sweet smell of a clean home, the fire is going, just a complete feeling of harmony.

They're probably landing NOW, or maybe already on their way, a lovely weekend coming up, cousins Freja and Conrad catching up, Ronja the big sis, baking PEPPERKAKER , sledging, our own pre-Christmas Eve, long good conversations, my whole fam over, bonfire, GLØGG, treats, yay!

Nik up a tree, last year. My man!

Tonight.

Quickpan of the lovely mess in our dining room. Hope everyone's having a good evening!

(Inspired by one of the most recent posts on this lovely blog)

Second Sunday...

...of advent, and our chickenpox-infected Calamity Jane has begun waiting full throttle.
How many days until Christmas yet?
Another Sunday, only two candles left now...

I finally finished the calendar, and it makes the waiting a little less tormenting...



The calendar is made up of matchstick boxes, a branch from the birch we felled in the garden, scrap book papers and nice ribbons, and some red paint. And the little presents hide sweets (marsipan, YUMMMY! I almost ate them all making the calendar, but sssh, don't tell Ronja), small gifts (today was a vintage miniature camera obscura with dinosaur images inside, she loved it), or small notes with promised activities written on.
Wishing everyone a good Sunday evening, I'm off to watch the Czech version of Cinderella with my chums (everyone in Norway will know what I'm talking about)!

Today:

Feels a little bit like living in a cave. Trying to do important things, but end up mostly knitting and listening to the radio. Seems like the only sensible thing to do. I feel that mental point coming closer, the one where I think it's going to be like this forever, that spring is just an illusion, that I can't imagine the trees having leaves again or flowers bursting out of the ground.

I'll close my eyes, knock me on the head with something hard and wake me up in late March.

It's a good thing I have a couple of monkeys to take care of on days like these.

And tomorrow, I might just love winter again.

Sickness & health.

While her big sister is busy being ill with the chickenpox, Freja is killing time being cute, smearing porridge all over her face, experimenting with new grimaces, and showing off her brand new teeth.

Their mother is busy trying to get her head screwed on again. Only a month until I start work, and my nut feels like it's full of cotton!

OH! And while I was writing the above, Freja just pushed herself forwards for the first time! MILESTONE!