Christmas letter

Time flies, and around here it seems it flies on gilded wings of noise, chaos and general exuberance. Such is the existence we affectionately call Nilsen Life. We find ourselves at the end of 2008 wondering what happened to last year’s Christmas cards, and feeling that perhaps we owe a small update to those who wonder if we may indeed have chucked it all in and moved to a yurt in Outer Mongolia.

Last year’s quiet on the postal front was due to the imminent arrival of Nilsen Kid #3 during the Yuletide season. Positive that Baby would make an appearance any moment, Kirsten seized upon a golden opportunity for procrastination, and planned on a joint Christmas card/Birth Announcement (kind readers will refrain from noting that neither have yet appeared in their mailboxes.)

Annika Louise Nilsen finally turned up December 28 2007, at a whopping 9 lbs 8 oz., with cheeks to rival those of her mother. She has been a delight to all of us, and proved herself of hearty stock by surviving the constant and - ahem – ‘enthusiastic ‘adorations of older sister and brother. A few medical dramas in her first year proved challenging, but she has arrived at her first birthday healthy, happy and TALL.

Lars is beginning to realize the power of conversation – the longer you hold the floor, the longer your sister has to remain silent! - and has started to employ the multi-syllabic descriptors that have long been the domain of his older sister. “Mommy, that smells ‘uhs-gusting’!” Luckily, he has not realized the power of his good looks, and therefore remains quite charming (for a 3 year old…)

Cecilie, at 6, continues to delight us with her chatter. Recently while discussing the lack of forecasted snow, in an outraged tone she reflected that ‘weathermen are just MISCHEVIOUS, Mommy!” She has at long last started kindergarten. On the eve of her first day prayed “Dear God, THANK YOU THAT I AM FINALLY STARTING SCHOOL.” She will always be the sprite who surprises her parents daily.

The children firmly believes he plays noggin.com all day, but Torbjorn continues in his job as Professional Services Director at Databasics (a software firm), and loves it. What he does not love is his commute: a solid 3 hours there and back, even avoiding the worst of traffic. This means many hours away from home, but as a tradeoff he is fully up to date on all manner of public radio trivia.

Kirsten is in charge of supervising the chaos at the yellow house, and nominally in charge of steering the wreckage in the right direction. With Annika’s birthday pending, she feels that maybe, just possibly, regaining her sanity might be an achievable goal for 2009. Watch this space for updates on what she will be when she grows up.
Speaking of watching this space, if you find yourself riveted by this letter, you’ll be delighted to find out that Nilsen Life is a semi-weekly thing: you can keep up with the latest and greatest on http://nilsenlife.blogspot.com . We’d be delighted to have you along for the ride.