bom + pigg

Kind of a cool word - bom. (pronounced boom) But not a cool thing. Bom is the fee you pay to enter Oslo. When you drive through the invisible border somewhere around Skoyen, you get charged 20 kroner. That is about 3 dollars. And now there is a new bom for Baerum county. This is just after my office building, so luckily I do not pay it every day. And that is 12 kroner, about 2 dollars. So, getting into Oslo, just to get in mind you, is 5 dollars. And in the winter time there is another fee. Pigg. An even cooler word! Piggdekk. This means studded tires. You have to pay a fee each time you enter Oslo with piggdekk. A good solution is to buy an electric car - no bom!

happy birthday under Christmas tree

Charlotte and I were walking home from barnehagen, and her little buddy next door was snowboarding (his dad pulling him along in the snow). He offered Charlotte a ride on his snowboard, and she sat on it and sled around, beaming. Then he said, wait! I have a present for Charlotte. A Christmas present. He made gifts for only two people in barnehage - his mamma and Charlotte. She said thank you, and his dad said wait til Christmas to open it. We took it inside and that night before bed she kept saying "happy birthday" or "where is happy birthday." Ahhh... now I get how that little mind works. Present = happy birthday. I said we ought to put it under the Christmas tree until Christmas Eve and she agreed and replied with "happy birthday under Christmas tree."

how many days of Christmas?

In the US we typically celebrate December 24th as Christmas Eve and December 25th as Christmas Day and that is it. We sometimes look at the calendar and see that the 26th is "Boxing Day" and we curiously wonder if this is something we should be participating in and should we get this holiday off too? In Norway, Christmas lasts longer. It starts on December 1st with advent. Remember, no separation of church and state here, so everyone (just about) observes advent and lights a candle every Sunday before Christmas, many go to church, and children indulge in a small gift every day from the advent calendar. December 23rd is "little Christmas eve", December 24th is "Christmas eve", December 25th is "First Christmas day", December 26th is "Second Christmas day" and December 27th is "Third Christmas day." Then, the days until New Year's Eve are referred to as "romjul" or "between Christmas." Then it becomes much simpler with New Year's. December 31st is New Year's Eve and January 1st is New Year's Day. Simple and sweet.