Gearing up (or down) for Christmas

Yesterday we made Pinnekjøtt and potetlefse, which are the traditional Christmas foods where Hanne is from.  We've had some snow this week, yay!  The last of the Christmas decorations are up and so are the Christmas lights at Ryan's grandparents house (yes, there is light, no, it is not completely even and perfect-looking lol).  Hanne has in quiet moments snuck away to watch clips of the Polish version of "Three Wishes for Cinderella"on YouTube (another bizarre Weegie Christmas tradition).  Now if only she can dare face Christmas traffic and go out and get the rest of Ryan's Christmas presents (of course Ryan did all his shopping in just a couple of hours), Christmas can go ahead and settle upon us.

Today, Ryan's mom is making us Buffalo Busters (I, Hanne, have no idea what that is).  Earlier this week Ryan's grandparents invited us over for steaks.  Wednesday we went out for dinner to celebrate the birthdays of Ryan's mom, Jill, and brother, Tim.  We've been having a lot of good food, and good times.

It's been good to reconnect with some of Ryan's friends and family.  After going through some withdrawals we found a coffee roasting coffee shop where we can hang out and read (with a fire going yay).  We've also posted an ad on Craigslist for a faith community, after our sad attempt to go to a "normal" church last week (after 5 minutes Hanne turned to Ryan and said "I want to go home."  Ryan, being more polite than her, and lacking the excuse "I am a foreigner, I think I must be in the wrong place" made her stay the whole service through).  And finally, an awesome part about living here is that we've got mountains a five-minute walk from the house, where we can go for a walk and it's neither 90 California degrees nor Norwegian blizzards on a daily basis.  We'll enjoy being here for sure!