I have celebrated a wonderful Christmas Eve at my brother’s house and had to admire his gingerbread house or Tobias’ Tower to put it precisely from the Norwegian beloved children’s author, illustrator and composer Thorbjørn Egner’s book Folk og Røvere i Kardemomme By/People and Robbers in Cardamom City published in 1955. Not exactly inspired by Norwegian architecture, but by his travel to Morocco. Egner is celebrated this year, the centenary of his birth. Here you can see the tower in Egner’s own drawing and hear one of the accompanying songs: youtube.

My brother and I are late comers to walking around the Christmas tree singing Christmas Carols, and remember only the chorus while my sister-in-law knew the lyrics of each verse by heart. Anyway, my 5-year old niece was delighted by the mere action, and all our giggles. After a rather sceptical meeting of Father Christmas – my brother in a good disguise – and delightful unwrapping of what seemed like a ton of presents, she could not stay awake a minute longer. We did manage for a few more hours before turning in, with big smiles on our faces. Christmas Day was spent relaxing and knitting: nearly completing one design, in Hifa Embla, and working out a new one, this time in Tosh DK. More will be revealed soon, in the mean time: enjoy your Christmas, relax and knit – just, as I intend to  do!