Great Grandma Solveig (week 314)

We celebrated Christmas this week, and also celebrated the life of of my Great Grandma Dahl.    Solveig was born August 10, 1927 and lived over 85 years until December 20, 2012 when she passed away at 6:42 am, surrounded by her five children Paula, Gail, Gretchen, Ron and Tina.  What I remember most about visiting Great Grandma was her house in Glendale.  She had two pianos, wooden towers, and pictures that she had painted on the walls.  There was also a big clock right near the front door that made a loud bonging sound on the hour.  Great Grandma lived a very full life.  She was always up to something--traveling around the world to Egypt with her friends, taking classes at the local college, or sending pictures on her computer.  She had traditional values--she loved the music of the St. Olaf Choir, Norway and Minnesota--but she was always doing something new and modern.  Great Grandma was an enthusiastic person and we will miss her curiosity, passion, and love for the world and her family (particularly her grandchildren and great grandchildren).  

In honor of Great Grandma, we had Christmas with the family at Aunt Andrea's house.  We made Norwegian Lefsa, Swedish Meatballs, Salmon, Ham, and all of the Scandinavian   Aunt Tina played the piano, the kids performed Away in the Manger, and the men sang We Three Kings.  In honor of Great Grandpa Lyle, we also read the Christmas Story from Luke and opened our presents one by one.  At the end of it all, we watched a slide show of Great Grandma and the Grandchildren were all given gifts and a letter from Great Grandma that she wrote just before she passed away earlier in the week.  It was a Christmas that I will never forget.

We also got to see Uncle Devin and baby Wakana.  Devin and Mio were visiting from Japan. It was the first time that we saw the baby in person.  She was super cute.  I got to eat macaroni and cheese, and play Nintendo Wii for most of the time so I was plenty happy.  Daddy got to see lots of old friends so he was happy too.

After our Christmas with Grandma Paula, we headed north to spend the night with Grandpa John and Grammy.  We had a great time playing with the trains.  Christopher was a little hesitant at first because he thought that mommy and daddy were going to leave us, but settled in when he realized that we were all going to have dinner and stay over night together.  We got some very cool presents and returned to Long Beach the day before Santa arrived.