Christmas - Part Trois

Noone can ever say that we did not celebrate Christmas the year we spent in Norway -at this point I'm feeling a bit Christmassed out!

Mid-morning following our late-night karaoke session, two parents, two grandparents, four boys, four DS consoles with various new games, six pairs of skis, six bum trays, seemingly endless pairs of mitts, gloves, snow pants and jackets were packed into two cars, and away we went to Cottage-land. Also known as Winter Wonderland.

Our cottage is situated in the mountains above the beautiful town of Ål, and is very popular for cross country skiing. Right outside our door are kilometers and kilometers of machine groomed trails, some lit, some not. There is also a downhill centre across the valley, and Norway's largest tobagganing hill is only a short drive away.

Arriving after sunset, we quickly threw together a dinner of leftover food from the day before the boys got into their outerwear, strapped on the cross country skis and went outside to test out the brand new head lights they'd received for Christmas.



Looks like they worked out pretty well!

The very next day, we woke up to very mild weather, and a touch of rain that quickly turned into snow. While my mother and I drove down the mountain for groceries, the boys played in the snow. My dad will tell you that he had no help whatsoever building his snowman, as the boys were far too busy making snow tunnels and having snowball fights.



Later that afternoon, Christopher, Mathias and I ventured out for what I thought was going to be a short skiing trip around the cottage. As it turns out, the boys had a 10k trek in mind. I finally managed to convince them, some 2-3 km in, that it was going to get pitch black soon, and we'd have to wait until the following day to venture any further away. As we were returning to the cottage, Mathias and I had a miscommunication in advance of skiing down a large hill, with the end result that I had to throw myself into the snow to avoid crashing into and possibly mortally wounding my little nephew with my Christmas-stuffed self.

This is me following my not-so-fluffy-and-soft encounter with the snow:



A bruised and swollen eye is the hot look for New Year's, dontcha know?

We did do the 10k trip the very next day, and it was an awesome outing - despite wearing sun glasses on a cloudy day to not scare off other skiers with my blooming eye.



That night, those heavy clouds became an increasingly intense snow storm, which we took full advantage of:





And here's what we woke up to this morning:



Thanks to the wonders of heavy duty snow removal services, we were able to pack our boys and their gear into our little car, wave goodbye to my nephews and parents who were staying on at the cottage, and make our way back home.

Which is where we are currently - and not without a touch of panic - cooking dinner for hungry boys, while doing laundry and packing in preparation for our trip to Manchester, England first thing tomorrow. That is, cooking, doing laundry, packing, and...ahem...blogging. Because no matter how busy I get, there always seems to be time for blogging.