New Year’s Eve

[Written 2 January 2013]

We decided to do things a little differently this New Year’s Eve.  In years and years past in Iceland, we’ve usually started the evening with Finnur’s family and then switched over to my (Hrefna’s) family around 10 pm and spent midnight perched up on a hill watching the crazy fireworks with them.  As a result, Finnur hasn’t actually welcomed the New Year with his family in, uhhh, well over a decade (or even ever since we began dating 18 years ago?).

This year we therefore decided to just hang out with Finnur’s family for the entire evening, which was for the best because a) I was feeling extra tired and digestion-napped twice during the party, and b) my pelvis was feeling sensitive and wouldn’t have liked to climb or descend the usual hill for the fancy fireworks-view.

Here are a truckload of pictures from the evening!

Aaand just for kicks… Previous New Years Eves here: 2011 in Iceland, 2010 in Iceland, 2009 in LA, 2008 in LA, 2007 in Los Altos, 2006-1 and 2006-2 in Iceland, 2005 in Iceland, 2004 in Iceland, 2003 in Mountain View (Anna 1 week old), 2002 in Fremont, 2001 in Iceland, 2000 in LA.

Finnur lighting a few small fireworks in front of our house right before leaving for the big party at 6 pm.  The kids are huddled behind him on the picture.

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Snow! Finally!!

[Written 2 January 2013] After weeks and weeks of frost and rain but no snow, we finally got some white stuff on 27 December.  (Last snowfall was in November apparently.) It kept snowing the day after, but this snow was very very wet, and with the ambient temperature hovering around zero, this is what happened:Read more

Anna’s Birthday Party – Part Deux

[Written 29 December 2012]

We can’t possibly fit my family and Finnur’s family and our closest friends into our house at the same time unless we can have people sit out in the garden – which is not really a possibility in December.  We’ve therefore opted to do a birthday celebration with Finnur’s family on Christmas Day (which is Anna’s actual birthday), and then a party for my family and some friends at a later date.  This year the ‘later date’ became Boxing Day (aka ‘The Second Day of Christmas’ in Icelandic).

To keep things simple, we invited people over for a brunch/lunch at noon which meant that prepping started the evening before (apple crumble and pineapple cheesecake), and we had to get up at a pretty early hour to clean and keep on cooking and baking.

Here are some pictures from the party:

Having already tried my hand at a ‘proper’ chocolate cake the day before, I felt it was fine to opt for easy way out this time. I used half of this package in the new cake-form Anna got from her grandparents the day before.

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Christmas Day Party

[Written 29 December 2012]

Every year, Finnur’s parents host a Christmas Day party with fancy food and a family game of whist.  Much like last year, we brought a chocolate cake so that we could sing for Anna’s birthday (and thus claim to have held a birthday party for that part of the family). 🙂

Here are some pictures:

A 9 year old Anna with the chocolate cake I spent the morning making.  I’ve yet to have an uneventful chocolate cake making session and this year was no exception.  The last time I tried to make this cake, I didn’t notice the creme needed a loooong time to cool so it essentially became a chocolate sauce on top of the cake.  This year the cake itself ‘collapsed’ and was ‘chewy’ – but thankfully yummy still!

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Anna Turns 9 Years Old!!!

Yes, it’s shocking, but true – Anna has just turned NINE years old!!!  Go here to read the story of her birth (WARNING: Some explicit images!  Kinda NSFW!) She got to open her first presents in our bed (because we are lazy): Since then I’ve been working on making this chocolate cake (hmmm… I think itRead more

Christmas Eve

[Written on 29 December 2012]

Icelanders hold Christmas on Christmas Eve, i.e. the kids squirm the whole day, at 6 pm there’s a fancy dinner, and once that’s over (and all cleared and cleaned away) it’s PRESENT OPENING TIME!!

Here are a few pictures from the day.

The tree Anna and Finnur bought and decorated the day before almost floated on top of all the presents – and that was before mom and Bjarni brought their own.

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Gleðilega hátíð!! Happy Holidays!! :)

It’s 24 December 2012!Read more

End of the Day Status

Just a quick update on where things stand now that Dec 23rd is drawing to a close: Bjarki slept throughout the day, but became somewhat coherent around dinner-time.  His stomach rebelled once (not terribly surprising given that all he’s had pretty much all day is Gatorade – he’s been too sleepy for much more thanRead more

Health? What health?!!

It’s the day before Christmas and Bjarki’s been asleep since 10 am (it’s now almost 3 pm) with a fever of 39.3°C (102.7°F).  It seems to be a plain old virus because he isn’t complaining of any particular pains, he’s just out cold (or hot).  I’m hoping all this sleeping means he’ll be right asRead more

Friday-Before-Christmas Snapshots

[Written 23 December 2012] Just three little photos from the Friday before Christmas: We finished the day by eating fantastic food at Holla and Óli’s (who now have a new kitchen!  Yay!), but took no pictures.  Boo!Read more