Røros II

We´re off to Oslo in just 2 hours and while waiting in the lounge for the time to pass with coffee and biscuits (we´ve already had a walk and it´s freezing cold out there!), I thought I´d let you know what we´ve been up to these days. We had so many plans, we´d do things right this time (meaning going dog sledging and maybe cross country skiing), but then we remembered we had Sam with us, that the temperatures were really low and that this was a holiday, after all. And what I love about holidays is that I can do what I feel like and not what´s expected of me, not even by my own self. Rest, eat when I´m hungry, sleep when I´m tired, take a walk, go shopping for local produce, have a glass of wine, cuddle with Sam, read a book.

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Christmas market

It´s official! The Christmas market season has begun and I simply adore it! The weather is crisp, no snow yet, but you can almost feel it in the air, so it must be right around the corner! The streets are lit with decorations and people come alive with anticipation. It´s the season to be jolly,  lots of gatherings every week, be it Christmas parties, dinners or seasonal beer tasting. We´re hosting a brunch next week and are otherwise jumping from one party to another in the meantime.

Yesterday I went to Bærums Verk with a couple of friends to check out the atmosphere. We had gløgg (a sort of mulled wine, except there´s no wine, just a very sweet concoction of spices and syrup, so that children can drink it, too) while walking around, the place was teeming with people,  children were sitting in a sledge pulled by a giant Bernese Mountain dog, adults were standing in waffle queues and everywhere you could smell sugar coated almonds. We had lunch at Pannekakehuset, a Dutch concept that´s very popular (since it´s the only atmospheric place there), pea soup with spare ribs and beer. They have amazing pancakes, but I had already had that for breakfast, so my stomach wasn´t ready for that much dough. 😉

The bus ride back to town takes an hour, but we talked and laughed like high school kids, so it just flew by. It was nice to soak in some nature and get into the Christmas spirit, now I´m ready for a slow Sunday until 6 o´clock, when we´re going to our neighbor´s beer tasting party. 😉

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Christmas at the Tran residence

This year we´re celebrating Christmas in Norway with our friends and my husband´s family. Although it´s nice to go back to my mother country, Romania, which we do every other year for the holidays, it´s kind of comfortable to be at home and go about things my way. So my man brought a Christmas tree and we decorated it with Sam and Beo prowling around it and sniffing the forrest smell, I baked and cleaned and bought some pretty light chains and the imperative hyacinths, the only thing missing is a Christmas wreath, which I´ll make after taking Sam for a walk in the woods. We´re done with finding and wrapping the gifts, what´s left is buying the food and the drinks and finding the pajamas and Home alone 1 and 2. Meanwhile, I´ll be spending time baking some more and making some Christmas chutney while listening to Christmas carols. How are you spending the holidays? Merry Christmas to you all!

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