mmmm pictures

This is a traditional Christmas day picture at the Allin/Bartzen Christmas celebration, so I took my own version as well. This was just the dough left over from the gingerbread village. They'd never seen anything like it here in Slovakia (Norway). The two at the top say "good luck" to those still taking exams. And my favorite - the ornament in the center.

The village! Stage right. There's a story: it was a good princess who lived in the castle and she was freed (that's why she's not in the castle. When, really, the package of Princess gummies didn't actually come with a princess). But the seal of the royal family is still on there. And it's protected by gummy alligators. You buy them at the alligator store to the left of the castle. And then on the far left is the most up for debate: princess's small cabin, love shack, and I think at one point it was even a pub.

And the other side of the village: far right is a shoe store (on top are princess high heels) and the other building is the flower store. You have everything in this village.

The decoration process. The icing was too runny and the candies didn't stick at first. So until I ran the 2 miles to get more powered sugar, Oysteins system, was 'one for the gingerbread, one for me...'

The cold night out in Martin last weekend. Disregard his closed eyes. My camera flashes 18 times before taking the picture. The tree is pretty nice though - white and purple like the rest of the city. There is speculation both from Slovaks and Norwegians that the Christmas decorations this year are sponsored by T-Mobile bc of the purple. But apparently the colors change every year - last year they were blue and yellow (!).

T-Mobile or not though, I still like the city center this time of year.