Spent Yuletide and New Years in Oslo this year with family and friends. Was nice to be back for an extended period of time seeing everyone. The first few days in Oslo was particularly nice as many days of frost had caused all trees to be covered in frost, creating a very scenic experience. Unfortunately the temperature jumped above zero the day before christmas eve and stayed in the single plus digits until the day before I left.

Always nice to fill up with Norwegian yuletide foods like roasted ham, cooked dried smoked lamb and moose casserole. Only cloud somewhat hanging over the celebration this year was the fact that my mother is going in for brain surgery at the end of February. While it is supposedly a relatively routine operation, the fact that they are going into her brain makes it a bit worrisome nonetheless. Might end up taking a few days back in Norway in February to be there for moral support.
Had Jan and Jaime visit Norway for a few days around New Years Eve, had a good time and while the New Years Party was quite low key, it was pleasant and fun. Also since the current Norwegian government believes that anything that people find entertaining and fun should be banned, as some people being happier than others go against their philosophy of equality (and its always easier to make everyone equally unhappy), there was a lot of fireworks on New Years Eve due to this being the last New Years Eve where private airborne fireworks is allowed.

Managed to get a flu a couple of days before my return to Cambridge and due to the plane needing to get de-iced I got delayed with about and hour and a half at least when flying out. Stumbled into the house at 3am this morning, hating the world (and Ryan Air in particular) due to my flue and the long journey.

Brought quite a bit of food from Norway, so I be hosting some dinner parties serving fermented fish, reindeer steak, minced moose and whale meatcakes in the coming weeks.