We tried to have a “traditional” day here in Ålesund like we do every year in Seattle, but it wasn’t quite the same. Normally, one day in December, we go downtown Seattle and vote for our favorite gingerbread house at the Sheraton Hotel, we put our hands on the glass at The Bon (Macys) to make the train move, Kaleb has his photo taken with Santa, we ride the monorail, we see the lights and walk around looking at all the decorations, we ride the carousel and we are inside Pacific Place before 6pm sipping hot cocoa so we can watch the snow come down inside the building that Kory helped build. It’s always the same and we love it every year. Kaleb was moaning and groaning so much that he was going to miss that day, so I assured him we could find new traditions here in Norway that would be just as good, and today was the day for it. Unfortunately, none of it was even close to being the same, but it was still a great day.
Sabina spent the night last night so she was at our breakfast table and went to church with us this morning. Tobias wanted to go to church too so we picked him up and we all headed over to Agape, but they were closed! Somehow we missed out on the tidbit of news that they were NOT having a Sunday morning service because of their special Christmas service tonight, so we high tailed it over to Philadelphia Church just in time. And it’s a good thing we went there too because they asked Kaleb to light all the Advent candles as they sang one of the traditional Advent songs. His timing was perfect and he was proud as a peacock to be up front lighting matches and setting the wicks to flame. Earlier this week he had a total melt down because he was promised a big role in the Christmas show at His Place Church in Burlington this year but our move prohibited that. He so wants to have the starring role in some production as he’s very good at memorizing and he can be pretty dramatic when he wants to be. Agape Church had a great Christmas program tonight and they asked him to be in it – but as one of the lantern carriers (there were no speaking roles for children). He considered it an insult, not an honor and he cried buckets. Being asked to light the candles during the church service this morning at Philadelphia almost made up for his other loss, so Hallelujah!
After church we took Sabina home and kept Tobias with us for the day. We all donned Santa hats and went into the center of town to see what we could do that may rival our Seattle Christmas day. I had heard there were horse and carriage rides, a little Christmas village with arts and crafts and special foods would be sold, and that the two malls downtown would be open from 2-5 today (only open the two Sundays before Christmas and only during the hours when church wouldn’t be happening). So off we went to see the lights and sounds of downtown. I don’t know what happened to the carriage, but they just had a couple horses people could ride around the streets and somehow, the appeal wasn’t there. The special food booths they had included dried reindeer meat and dark goat’s cheese – neither of which appealed to me. So off to the malls we went where Kaleb managed to spend a little of his birthday money on Pokemon cards (a terrible investment, but he was happy.) Kory found some clothes at 70% off so he expanded his wardrobe a little. But there was no Santa, no train, no carousel, no monorail, and minimal amounts of decorations, but we did manage to find hot cocoa and a nice star shining on top of a nearby mountain (we all had a good oooh and aaaah over that one). Oh well, we aren’t in America. We just need to tune in better to what the Norwegians do, I guess.
We headed back to Agape Church for their Christmas program tonight and it was over the top professional and well done. They even had fake snow that almost rivaled the snow at Pacific Place. Kaleb and Sabina carried lanterns and Kaleb didn’t complain a bit. Tobias and his parents, twin brothers and grandparents all came too, so that was a huge added bonus for us. Afterwards we sat around drinking hot glogg and eating pepperkake cookies and had a chance to visit with the family (Tobias’ grandfather is a cousin of Kory’s mom). It was all so “kosleig” as they say here (comfortably cozy). A few people at church said they heard us on the radio yesterday and one woman said it was the most powerful talk she’s ever heard on that show. She said she sat at home with tears streaming down her face, so I guess our message reached across the airwaves as we had hoped. Hallelujah!
Tonight we typed up the bid to buy these houses, which I will take to the attorney tomorrow morning. It’s up to God if we get them, but if it were up to the neighborhood, we would definitely become the new owners. We were told by more than one person there would be a loud protest if the Kommune bought these houses for refugees as the impact to the neighborhood would be severe. I think we will become the neighborhood heroes if we are able to pull this off. It’s a little beyond my comfort level but Kory claims he was born for this kind of stuff. He loves “distressed” properties. I hope he feels the same about a “distressed” wife should we actually buy them.
Sabina spent the night last night so she was at our breakfast table and went to church with us this morning. Tobias wanted to go to church too so we picked him up and we all headed over to Agape, but they were closed! Somehow we missed out on the tidbit of news that they were NOT having a Sunday morning service because of their special Christmas service tonight, so we high tailed it over to Philadelphia Church just in time. And it’s a good thing we went there too because they asked Kaleb to light all the Advent candles as they sang one of the traditional Advent songs. His timing was perfect and he was proud as a peacock to be up front lighting matches and setting the wicks to flame. Earlier this week he had a total melt down because he was promised a big role in the Christmas show at His Place Church in Burlington this year but our move prohibited that. He so wants to have the starring role in some production as he’s very good at memorizing and he can be pretty dramatic when he wants to be. Agape Church had a great Christmas program tonight and they asked him to be in it – but as one of the lantern carriers (there were no speaking roles for children). He considered it an insult, not an honor and he cried buckets. Being asked to light the candles during the church service this morning at Philadelphia almost made up for his other loss, so Hallelujah!
After church we took Sabina home and kept Tobias with us for the day. We all donned Santa hats and went into the center of town to see what we could do that may rival our Seattle Christmas day. I had heard there were horse and carriage rides, a little Christmas village with arts and crafts and special foods would be sold, and that the two malls downtown would be open from 2-5 today (only open the two Sundays before Christmas and only during the hours when church wouldn’t be happening). So off we went to see the lights and sounds of downtown. I don’t know what happened to the carriage, but they just had a couple horses people could ride around the streets and somehow, the appeal wasn’t there. The special food booths they had included dried reindeer meat and dark goat’s cheese – neither of which appealed to me. So off to the malls we went where Kaleb managed to spend a little of his birthday money on Pokemon cards (a terrible investment, but he was happy.) Kory found some clothes at 70% off so he expanded his wardrobe a little. But there was no Santa, no train, no carousel, no monorail, and minimal amounts of decorations, but we did manage to find hot cocoa and a nice star shining on top of a nearby mountain (we all had a good oooh and aaaah over that one). Oh well, we aren’t in America. We just need to tune in better to what the Norwegians do, I guess.
We headed back to Agape Church for their Christmas program tonight and it was over the top professional and well done. They even had fake snow that almost rivaled the snow at Pacific Place. Kaleb and Sabina carried lanterns and Kaleb didn’t complain a bit. Tobias and his parents, twin brothers and grandparents all came too, so that was a huge added bonus for us. Afterwards we sat around drinking hot glogg and eating pepperkake cookies and had a chance to visit with the family (Tobias’ grandfather is a cousin of Kory’s mom). It was all so “kosleig” as they say here (comfortably cozy). A few people at church said they heard us on the radio yesterday and one woman said it was the most powerful talk she’s ever heard on that show. She said she sat at home with tears streaming down her face, so I guess our message reached across the airwaves as we had hoped. Hallelujah!
Tonight we typed up the bid to buy these houses, which I will take to the attorney tomorrow morning. It’s up to God if we get them, but if it were up to the neighborhood, we would definitely become the new owners. We were told by more than one person there would be a loud protest if the Kommune bought these houses for refugees as the impact to the neighborhood would be severe. I think we will become the neighborhood heroes if we are able to pull this off. It’s a little beyond my comfort level but Kory claims he was born for this kind of stuff. He loves “distressed” properties. I hope he feels the same about a “distressed” wife should we actually buy them.
