Where's Dad?

Henry loves Eric. LOVES. It's great. Really. I just wish he'd show that love for me. I mean. The only time he gets remotely excited for me is when I gesture my hand as if milking a cow. C'est la vie. I'll win his heart over eventually. I will. I will. Eric, being the good soul he is, often tells me it's just because he's gone all of the time. Apparently this means his presence is more "fun" because it comes in sporadic doses. What? Me in your face all. day. long. isn't fun? Whatever.

So here's a video of Henry waiting for Eric to come up from the basement (and peeking under the door to try to see him)....

Katz Christmas

Let the Christmas celebrations begin! We had a great day celebrating with my side of the family today:  brunch, Cranium (of course, my team won), and good company. I was horrible and didn't take any photos throughout the day, but my dad captured the group photo:

The Girls from Ames

My Northfield book club's last read was "The Girls from Ames" by Jeffrey Zaslow (author of "The Last Lecture"). Simply put, the book told the story of 11 friends from Ames, Iowa, and accounted for the power of solid female relationships. I liked it and I think most of the gals in the book club liked it too.

This past Sunday we met at Contented Cow to discuss the book and we had a special guest:  one of the characters from the book! It was absolutely amazing! The character, Kelly, lives here in Northfield and teaches in a nearby community. One of the gals in the book club used to work with her so was able to coerce her to stop by for a short bit, which turned into 2.5 hours. It was a bit surreal for me to hear Kelly talk and speak of the other characters. I had to remind myself that the book was nonfiction. Kelly is real. These gals are real. This was probably a similar experience to a 5 year old girl having breakfast with Cinderella (Cinderella is real, right?).

Anyway, Kelly talked about the arduous process of "writing" a book, brought the original manuscript, showed us contracts, and spoke of "what's to come" for all of the ladies. Minutes before she arrived I was being caddy about one of the characters of the book. All in good fun, of course. As she sat there and spoke of these ladies, I started to feel badly about saying such things. Because, again, these gals are real people.

Henry being Henry

Split Pea Soup

Spoons are for the weak.

St. Olaf Christmas Festival

Eric and I had the opportunity to go see the St. Olaf Christmas Festival Concert last night -- thank you Miss Kaethe! These tickets are incredibly hard to come by so we are so grateful for her generosity.

The choir(s) and orchestra were beautiful. And now I have the urge to learn how to play the violin. We enjoyed the music so much that we may just tune in to listen to it again on the radio today. I guess it's safe to say that we are officially in holiday mode.

But I can't leave this post without saying something about the overwhelming presence of Norwegian sweaters at the concert. I don't think I've seen so many people wearing them at one time. Not even when I lived in Norway. Seriously. But I love it. And I want one.