We did a little decorating for Christmas. We purchased an electric seven-"candle" table/window decoration at the beginning of mørketide, to make things "koselig." Mike (literally) picked up our own little Charlie-Brown Christmas tree that I decorated with red tissue-paper "blossoms." I made some stars for the windows from empty, shiny coffee bags (decaf: green on one side, silver on the other; regular: red and gold on one side, silver on the other)--which looked very nice, if I do say so myself. Our shipment from home, which I sent before I left, back in September, finally arrived the day before Christmas Eve, so we had a few other things I had packed--our Christmas stockings, a Christmas cloth ... which added a nice touch.
About 11:30 on New Year's Eve, we warmed up some gløgg (a traditional sweet-fruity sort of drink) and put it in our thermos and walked up to the top of the hill near our apartment. There were lots of people out walking, just standing around, and lighting fireworks. The evening was very overcast with low heavy clouds, which reflect the lights of the city, as does the snow; these conditions actually make everything very bright in the dark of night. We could see the mountain on the mainland where in lights it was written "2008." As we approached midnight, however, more and more people all along the coast of Tromsøya (the island) and Tromsdalen (the mainland) were setting off fireworks (very large fireworks) and the smoke was rising from these fireworks, and so our view of the "2008" which was to change to "2009" at midnight was obscured. We knew that it was midnight though from the ships who started blowing their horns at the hour. We sipped our gløgg and watched the show of lights. The often very reserved Norwegians wished us (and everyone else) "Godt nytt år!"
After the New Year, we had our first "company" at our apartment. Before the shipment came we had only two each of plates, glasses, flatware, etc. and limited cooking utensils, so after the shipment arrived it was good to have a few more things to work with. Sarah is a German student studying biology, and her boyfriend, Christoph was visiting over the holidays. They had spent Christmas on Kvaløya with a family (they actually stayed several days because we had a good storm then). The family sent them back home laden with all kinds of food--so they invited us over to share the bounty. We returned the invitation and Mike cooked (he's so good). I baked julekake and oatmeal cookies for dessert.
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