We pair here in Norway send our biggest Christmas wishes to you all, and all the very best as we go in to the New Year, we hope 2018 is a great year for you all.
2017 has been a whirlwind of a year for us.
We brought in the year in a bar in Harstad,
sold our house,
planned to move to Ireland,
almost did move to Ireland,
found a house in Norway,
bought a house in Norway,
spent most of the spring/summer moving to Norway,
found work,
lost loved ones,
gained friends,
learnt all about midges and mosquito's,
watched as the once snow covered garden burst in to colour,
camped out in the midnight sun,
explored by bike/boat/foot/car,
explored Sweden,
discovered how many toll roads there are in Norway,
slept in the car in -16C,
experienced freezing fog for the first time,
drank mulled wine under the northern lights,
bought a car engine heater,
put an extra jumper on as ice appeared on the inside of the walls as temps dropped to -25C,
spent evening after evening in our bbq hut,
followed walks to huts and shelters to warm up,
shovelled snow time and time again, from roofs to pathways,
met incredibly kind and generous people in our amazing new homeland.
Christmas for us was possibly not how we had hopped to spend our first Christmas here as Daniel was working throughout the Christmas period and is also working New Year (no late night then!) but we were kindly invited out twice over the Christmas time and got first hand experience of what a Norwegian Christmas is like, which was very touching. We also went along to the kirk on Christmas eve where the bells are rung to bring in Christmas, Daniel even braving doing a few rings himself!
New Year will be a quiet affair which alarms set for 5.30am, considering a Papay New year rarely sees you in bed before 9am...! We are looking forward to all that 2018 holds, from work to pleasure.
Here are some photos of our winter so far.
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| Christmas trees in the centre of Brøstadbotn |
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| One of the many heavy snow showers |
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| Festive BBQ hut |
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| Reindeer in Sweden |
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| A little open hut for warming up! |
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| Northern lights and our Christmas tree, taken from inside to avoid the cold! |
