After Mom died in January, I wrote about how I’d gotten my last birthday poinsettia from Mom.
This year on my birthday, my husband and son came home with a beautiful poinsettia for me, and they told the story about how my mom had always given me one on my birthday. The tradition continues.
I love my family.
It was a little early, but we celebrated Bestemor’s birthday while she was here.
It’s amazing how quickly the years go by. Happy birthday to my beautiful girls!
My son was 3-1/2 in this picture. He was dressed up in a bunad on the 17th of May in Bestemor and Bestefar’s house in Norway. We were there all summer. He wrote a letter to King Harald while we were there. He got the idea from a Gubben og Katten film, based on the Pettson and Findus books by Swedish author Sven Nordqvist.
King Harald and Queen Sonja plan to visit Luther College in Decorah on Oct. 13 to celebrate the college’s sesquicentennial. (We celebrated the 17th of May in Decorah last year.) My son’s birthday is Oct. 15. Wouldn’t it be a cool birthday present to take him to see the king and queen of Norway?
This was the last poinsettia I’ll ever get from my mother on my birthday. She and my father had been doing it since I was born. Then, after Dad died, it was Mom.
See, I was born in December. Ten days later, they had me in church for baptism. They had poinsettias on the altar that Sunday. And they sang something about roses … oh, I don’t know. She’s told me the story a dozen times, and she told my children the whole story again last birthday. I didn’t ask questions. Nor did I write any of it down. I just know that my birthday and poinsettias have always gone together.
Now? Not so much.
I got sparkles for my birthday.
Santa was in town today, but my kids would rather do this.
And this.
And this.
And this.
And this.
It’s great they had fun in the snow. (And we had hot chocolate afterward.) But it makes me wonder … they got videos from Santa. Was that enough for them? Or did it scare them? Or did something else scare them about Santa? Hmm.
Ah well. In any case. It was a great day.
We had a full house for the birthday party with more than 20 kids and tons of fun. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. It’s been a beautiful fall this year. This birthday party was definitely one to remember.
Look at that cake. Our local baker is amazing. I took in photos I found online (they don’t have Super Mario in their book of character cakes they do), and she replicated it to a T. The kids absolutely loved it.
9/2011
