This year, the Diaz's changed up Christmas and spent it together in Norway!
The first activity planned was a nice Christmas dinner at a restaurant called Bryggeloftet that is known for traditional Norwegian Christmas food. We had the table for three hours, and we enjoyed the time to the fullest: rakfisk and mussels for appetizers, ribbe (pork belly) and pinnekjøtt (salted and dried lamb ribs that are later cooked), halibut (for Carolyn), and aquahvit to wash it all down. Very good dinner and super filling!
Norwegian Christmas food at Bryggeloftet in Bergen
ROMJUL: December 23-27
I borrowed a cabin through work near a town called Geilo (roughly half way between Bergen and Oslo) for a few days so that we could be guaranteed a white Christmas. We took the train about three hours east of Bergen with Pancho, my skis and luggage full of food, beer and wine to last the four of us for 4 days.
We were welcomed with plenty of snow and a bit of wind, but that didn't stop us from attempting to ski on Christmas Eve. After waiting outside of the hotel for a while with Pancho, Carolyn got a pair of skis to rent and we headed out. But things took a turn when I couldn't get warm and decided I needed to head back to the cabin after only about 20 minutes of skiing. We had given Dad the key to the cabin and he was no where to be found. After about an hour and a half we saw him staggering up to the hotel looking very lost. He had walked over to the store to pick up more beer but got lost on his way back..."All the roads were white!" He had ended up walking along the ski trail instead of the road back to the hotel. We got back in the cabin and lit a fire before making dinner.
Bags all packed! Taking a bus to the train to then take a taxi to the cabin in Geilo.
Pancho is a good train traveller
Euchre night
Christmas Eve dinner
After dinner, Mom and I decided to give skiing another try. Since all of the Norwegians were inside celebrating Christmas, we had the whole trail to ourselves and the conditions were really nice. When we got back we played games and had a really cozy Christmas Eve.
Late night Christmas Eve ski
We got up and Santa had found Carolyn and I in Geilo. Stockings were filled up with candy and we got some nice gifts as well. We went for another ski trip, this time Dad joined us for a bit as well. Pancho was very well behaved and seems to just get so much better with age. On the 26th, Idar came by to hang out with us. We all went for another ski trip in the mild weather (it started to rain!) and then went back to the cabin for dinner, games, and sing-a-long. We packed up the cabin and took the train back to Bergen on the 27th.
We took the last days pretty easy with a trip downtown to the aquarium and a day at home. Thank you Mom, Dad and Carolyn for making the trip to come spend Christmas in Norway. I loved having you all here. Love you guys!
NEW YEAR'S EVE
After dropping off the family at the tram for them to head home, I jumped on the train back to Geilo to the same cabin to celebrate New Year's Eve with Idar, Carey and our friend Eirik (and Pancho of course). Pancho had stayed with Idar and his family while we went back to Bergen so we missed having Pancho with us the last few days we were in Bergen. Carey and Eirik arrived around 2:30AM but we still stayed up til 4:30 talking and playing games.
On New Year's Eve the weather was very mild (mid-30's), the snow was melting, and the wind was intense. So we kept ourselves inside playing with Pancho, playing some guitar and cards. Eirik brought venison for us to have for dinner and he slow cooked it in the oven - it was delicious! And then the party really took off when we all put on our party clothes - Carey requested that the theme be "sequins", so I found a silver top and she picked up two big sequin shirts in the US for the guys to wear. It was really fun. We went outside to see the fireworks around midnight and thought it would be a good idea to ski down....it was a bad idea. But the snow was falling again and despite the wind, people were still lighting fireworks. Pancho did ok, but he was getting stressed and insisted that Idar carry him back to the cabin.
It was by far my favorite New Year's Eve ever! Great company and so much fun!
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The first activity planned was a nice Christmas dinner at a restaurant called Bryggeloftet that is known for traditional Norwegian Christmas food. We had the table for three hours, and we enjoyed the time to the fullest: rakfisk and mussels for appetizers, ribbe (pork belly) and pinnekjøtt (salted and dried lamb ribs that are later cooked), halibut (for Carolyn), and aquahvit to wash it all down. Very good dinner and super filling!
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