Christmas in Norway is entirely destined to family. Whereas in Romania you´re expected to be at home during the day, but can choose go out for a drink with friends in the evening, in Norway, most places are closed and the city turns into a ghost town. It´s literally like in Oliver Twist, you can walk around peeping inside people´s apartments and see them dining and feasting and you´ll feel like the loneliest person alive. Luckily, I have a second family here, the Karoubis, and we usually spend Christmas with them every second year or so. This year it was just me and Sam, for obvious reasons. Christmas decorations and lots of candle light made their home warm and cosy for the troops´arrival. 😉Sam has known Makrell (Mackerel) since he was a puppy and he´s very fond of him. Not so sure about the other way around, but they did cuddle without any incident. 😉Franck´s boys were 7, 9 and 11 when I first met them, even used to babysit them every once in a while. Fun to see how much they´ve grown and what fine young men they´ve turned into. And so handsome, too! 😉Come on, Sam, do a little bear dance with me!There was foie gras and the traditional Romanian “salade au boeuf” as an appetiser, then shrimps and chicken for mains and for dessert we had caramel pudding. My perfect lemon meringue pie made for a lovely treat with coffee. 😉 Sorry for my lack of modesty, but I couldn´t believe I´d nailed it! It looked and tasted just perfect! 😉 Don´t have any good pictures, though, so you´ll have to trust me on that! 😉Yesterday evening we left at about 10, so we´d get a good night sleep and be fresh for the Xmas brunch today. Unfortunately there were some cats fighting or mating outside, so the sleep part was not so easy, but we made it back by 11 today. After a lush brunch, we started opening presents. 😉 Sam was just as excited as we were, since he´s allowed to tear up the wrapping paper. 😉Look at me here! First I try to guess what it might be, then I´m like OMG and then I´m laughing at my reaction! 😉Apparently the theme was “The Great Gatsby”- haha! Oh, wow! A bird house you need to build! Hope somebody can help me out with that, ´cause I´m not even good with puzzle! 😉More houses for Franck and Marion´s suspended village over the fireplace.Kissing ambush. ❤My biggest love. Such a well behaved boy, too! ❤

Merry Xmas, I hope you had a blast!

xxx, Alina