Putting up the Christmas Tree!!

As has become tradition in the Bodvarsson household, the Friday after Thanksgiving is set aside for putting up the Christmas tree and decorating the house! This is partly because we're all home, but also because we host Orn's department holiday party the following weekend! This year is no exception.

We had a ball putting up the tree and decorating it. Some humorous aspects of the activity included Hans asking, "is it a REAL tree?" numerous times as we pulled limb after limb of our tree out of the box. I looked at Gunnar and said, "your brother is not the brightest bulb on the tree," keeping in the holiday spirit. Of course the cognitive psychologist in me can come up with a pretty good explanation for Hans's question, but it is not nearly as humorous as interpreting it that Hans is not aware that a tree that comes out of a box piecemeal cannot possibly be real. The boys enjoyed putting all the ornaments on the tree...almost as much as the cats have had taking them off!

Thanksgiving - a day of FEASTING and FUN!!

We were invited to my sister Caroline's house back in my home town (right in back of my parents house) for Thanksgiving this year. What a wonderful day it was. Of course, we could not head down to the Cities early in the day as we had to start the day of thankfulness and feasting here at home with a huge breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls and cheesy egg bake (both recipe's compliments of Gunnar's Godmother Lisa).

Gunnar felt that before we ate we should say what we were thankful for. Hans, in a truly desperate hurry to get at the food, said that he was thankful for his parents, his cat, and CINNAMON ROLLS, and then promptly went face first into his plate. Gunnar, the calmer one about food, very sweetly described many aspects of his life that he is thankful for and then peacefully went about eating his breakfast. Orn and I attempted to follow Gunnar's lead. :)

We had a nice visit with Caroline, Gary, Nathel, and Chene (Chloe and Travis were spending Thanksgiving with Travis's family). It's fun to hear about Nathel's experiences at Cordon Bleu and Chene's experiences as a PSEO student at the University of Minnesota. When Mom and Dad showed up for dinner we all sat down to eat. Gunnar and Hans were pretty obsessed with an opportunity to pull a wishbone (as illustrated in the pictures), so they were thrilled when we finished feasting (and what a feast it was!) and they could set about wishing and yanking. Hans won. :)

After dinner we all relaxed in the living room and listened to Gunnar play the piano. Orn accompanied Gunnar on a couple pieces and soon Chene retrieved her flute and joined in for family music time. The boys were thrilled when Nathel took them upstairs to show them her electric guitar. Life is good when you've got that many instruments to choose from. We had a wonderful time visiting with the Andersons and Meldahls late into the evening before making the trek back to St. Cloud. What a wonderful day and evening!

Gunnar's 1st Piano Recital

At the end of the summer Gunnar began studying piano with an accomplished piano teacher here in St. Cloud. We have been thrilled to watch his progress as he has become rather accomplished very quickly (or so we think anyway! ;0)).

Gunnar participated in his first piano recital this afternoon as part of the Ensemble Festival (Central District) of the Minnesota Music Teachers Association. He performed a duet (all the kids did duets) along side of his extremely proud father. The recital was held at the Performing Arts Center in the middle of the St. Cloud State University campus. When we walked in I looked down and saw the two baby grands down on the stage, let me tell you, as his mother I became nervous for him. But Gunnar?? Nope, not one bit of nerves. Kathleen came over from Wisconsin to see the performance, so even with family and many friends there (many of the older sisters of Gunnar's friends from school study with the same piano teacher) Gunnar was not nervous. Hans was thrilled to see some of the other brothers there because that meant he could sit way up in the back with them and look cool. We heard about a dozen students perform a variety of pieces. Many truly wonderful performances were heard!

After the recital, Gunnar was informed by one of the other mom's that ice cream was a necessity after a recital so Orn took Gunnar and Hans over to Cold Stone for a treat. Meanwhile Kathleen and I hit some stores to see about Christmas presents. After some failed searches, she came back home with me and we visited while I made pumpkin curry soup for dinner at a friend's house tonight. What a great day! :)