Whew

  What a week. I have been slammed with work but have managed to knock out most of it. That ridiculous paper for Religion is now done. I think even if you drank a pot of coffee it would still put you to sleep (dry). All I have left in that class is the final. I have the google doc for it already and it is going to be a beast. Papers, projects, tests...the typical. Rather than bore you with that stuff I will throw out some of the more interesting things from this week.

  Tuesday was the tree lighting ceremony in Red Square here on campus. It was neat, there was hot cider and Christmas Carols.

You can see the star above Harstad and the cross on the right.

  Wednesday I had practice for Julegudstjeneste (Norwegian Christmas Service) that will be happening this coming Tuesday. The service is largely in Norwegian and I will be reading. There is also a choir being put together of students learning Norwegian to perform Deilig er Jorden (Beautiful is the Earth)

  Friday was the celebration of Sankta Lucia, even though the actual day is the 13...I guess they did that because of finals/dead week. It was interesting to see PLU's take on Sankta Lucia. It was heavily Swedish but I suppose that is not overly surprising since it was a Swede was responsible for starting the celebrations in the 50's here at PLU.

Here are the Lucia

I know three of the ladies. In the middle is Anna, she was named Lucia 2013. I am not entirely sure what it all entails but I know she received some scholarship money. I also know Kindra on the far right, and Meg four from the right. So that was fun. After the procession and program in Lagerquist we followed the Lucia to the Scan center for Julegrøt and other Nordic conglomerations of Christmas traditions. It was kind of fun to have a mash of all the Nordics in one night.
   Saturday was the PLU Christmas concert (Lagerquist two nights in a row) where Hannah performed.

If you have never been to the concert I suggest it. PLU's music program never fails to impress. When I came back to my place a couple of Norwegian friends were there. We discussed how "koselig" does not work in English for describing a Christmas concert.

It has been borderline cold lately! I rode to American Lake and back the other day and with that wind I thought I was going to loose my thumbs. Better gloves needed next time. 

If it is going to be cold I expect snow. Cold with no snow is just stupid; what is the point? Though, I saw on Canyon Rd. the other day a small skiff of snow on rooftops and the sides of the road.