A jolly good time

I wish you all are having a fantastic Christmas - or whatever you do instead this time of year!

We have, as traditionally in the Nordic countries, already celebrated the birth of Christ, as the 24th is the Day here. We had a nice day with S' parents at their house - lunch, coffee and dinner, with presents spread out a little here and a little there. It's hard work trying to tell a 6-year old that she has to wait for her presents, when they are all there in the open, easily readable for everyone. So we don't. I have horrible memories of my parents at Christmas, telling us kids that the presents were to be opened AFTER dinner, which was always served at 5 in the afternoon. And of course my dad made a point out of eating so slowly that 10 ants would've finished his plate faster than he did. My brother finally had his revenge one year, eating as slowly as he could and so much that he couldn't open his own presents until a couple of hours later than the rest of us - he had to lie down for a while first. But my dad didn't win our own version of a food-fight that Christmas Eve! :) I love you, J!

Tomorrow I'll be going to my folks in Norway with H. We'll be eating, enjoying each others company and I'll be studying. I really do hate the fact that we students don't even get Christmas off, we have big assignments coming up right after New Year's... And then there's the next exam on the 16th of January, which our teachers kindly enough e-mailed us about on the 23rd, saying "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - remember that EVERYTHING from ALL course litterature will be included on the next exam." What a nice Christmas greeting... NOT!
I will never the less try to have a great time with my folks, and enjoy some off time with H - we don't have much of that around here, as there always seems to be something we HAVE to do.

On a side note, there is now a house on our lot. No roofing, but with all the snow we've got these past 3 days that doesn't show - it looks like a proper house, garage and all. It's the wrong colour and only a Tyvek sheet stop the wet from coming through the roof, but that is a worry I will deal with on Monday. The workers won't be back until then anyway.