Category Archives: organizing

December 7th – homemade with stress…or love?

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IMG_1905 garn“Why don’t you just knit some socks for my kids for Christmas?” I will not tell you who said this, he probably thought he was making it simple for me. He caught me in the middle of gift making and did not meet a jolly elf, he met a fuming one. “Of course I can, then you can give each of our children what you earn in 8 hours, I retorted”. Not an answer to be proud of, I know, but it made me think. When did I allow it to become a question of money?

At times it is, with good ideas, time on your hand and free materials, making gifts could be cheap. It normally isn’t. The Alpacca wool mittens I am working on now, takes 25 Dollars worth of yarn and at least 10 hours work. The strange thing is, I have been giving self-made gifts since I was five years old, and I should know by now that quite a few people do not really appreciate a home made gift, so why so I keep doing it?

It took me years to shift my mind from having to make gifts, to wanting to make gifts, to being allowed to make gifts, to enjoying to make gifts, to craving to make gifts. Which is where I am now.

I realized it was not so much about giving as it was about being.
It was not about money, it was all about values.
It was actually not about the product, it was about the process.

I have to be a person who makes things, that is the simple truth.
I love the way my house looks with a basket of knitting next to my chair.
I love the way I feel when thoughts are allowed to come and go, dusk is slowly falling, the fire is roaring, the music is playing and soft yarn runs through my fingers.

To be honest, making gifts is about who I am, not about what I do. When I finally saw that truth I was able to let go of all the hassle of gift making and keep the love of making gifts.

For some weeks in fall and early winter I have a project waiting for me in my knitting basket. I steal moments of pure joy with those bundles of softness and color. Sometimes there will be results too, which I am thrilled to share with friends and family.

At all times the result is a happy me, which around the 15th of december congratulate myself with work well done, clears away all craft supplies and knitting, and ventures out to buy my dear ones what I can truly afford, with love. Next year perhaps a new person will be the one who get’s something crafted straight from my heart, who knows. They all get peace and gifts with no hassle or stress attached, and with no hours counted.

IMG_1907 knitting

Believe me, I know better than most how frantic and exhausting it is possible to make the season of peace and goodwill. The main story on Indexyourlife in December will be my way to a Christmas free of tangles.

In December my brother and I write an advent calendar blog together in norwegian.You may visit at  JULEFRYD or Christmas Joy. This year we will be writing or sharing thoughts and joys of gifts, giving and sharing. We will post there every day, and I will share some of that blog here on indexyourlife too.

All pictures at Indexyourlife are mine, if not otherwise stated.

December 6th – to all a good night

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Even Santa needs a rest

Even Santa needs a rest

Did you ever hear the theory of the sleep train? According to some experts we are not able to go to sleep any time, we have to wait for the right train to the land of Nod. Like in the real world, we get ready for the journey, we wait at the platform, we board and then, on the sleep train, we fall asleep. If we fail to catch it the next train leaves in two hours. The thing is, if we do not board the right train we will be late. If we keep boarding the wrong train we will get desperately late, and never be able to catch up.

Our problem, according this study, is when we are ready at the platform, but as soon as  the right train is approaching we turn around and run in the other direction so that the train won’t catch up on us. Silly. I used to do that, especially at Christmas time.

longing for a soft pillow

longing for a soft pillow

When getting the kids ready for bed I was so tired I could hardly stand on my feet. Instead of catching that train I would do chores to keep awake. As soon as the train was pulling out of the platform I would feel awake and start on a Christmas project. Making gifts, baking or organizing. In a couple of hours the next train would pull up, and I would fold laundry or stack the dishwasher until it left. Then I would be going at the sewing machine for some more hours, until finally waiting for the next train while tossing and turning in my bed.

I never felt like I was a top of all I had to do. Luckily I saw this program on sleep disorders and recognized how i was depriving myself of the one thing I needed most. From then on I tried a different tactic. I gave myself set hours. If paid workers could leave their work in the evening, so could I. When the children were in bed, I would curl up on the coach with knitting or a book. Then, as soon as I felt tired at all, I would just go to bed. No need to say that Christmas has arrived every year since then, so all my late nights were totally not necessary.

It took me thirty years to grow up and not wait for somebody else to call it a day. As for the knitting, that will be tomorrow’s post!

Believe me, I know better than most how frantic and exhausting it is possible to make the season of peace and goodwill. The main story on Indexyourlife in December will be my way to a Christmas free of tangles.

In December my brother and I write an advent calendar blog together in norwegian.You may visit at  JULEFRYD or Christmas Joy. This year we will be writing or sharing thoughts and joys of gifts, giving and sharing. We will post there every day, and I will share some of that blog here on indexyourlife too.

All pictures at Indexyourlife are mine, if not otherwise stated.

December 5th – hij kommt!

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Not worth handing over

Not worth handing over

Turning on the News a day in late november we were shocked. We were in the Netherlands and saw hordes of people waving and singing, jumping and dancing to greet a crowd of boys with black coloring in their faces followed by a bishop on top of a white horse. What was this? We did not figure it out for days. Then I was in hospital with our new-born and the bishop came again, handing out oranges. Curiouser and curiouser. Of course everyone was willing to tell me, when I started asking. It was Sinter Klaas, the turkish bishop, Saint Nicholas, who every year come from Spain with his entourage of moorish boys to hand out gifts for the good children. The original Santa Claus and lots of political incorrectness.

Old stocking gifts as decorations

Old stocking gifts as decorations

I asked and I studied and I pondered. To the Dutch this holiday had become the day of the big presents, family and lots of food. We saw no reason to adopt that. What we could do and what we did was to go back to the earlier tradition and adopt that. Since then Sinter Klaas has been celebrated every year in our family, and no one in Holland would recognize it as such, if they were not from a tiny farm a hundred years ago. It has been our way of introducing a Holiday Gift Concept that is not about how expensive everything is, but to find something suited for the recipient. As tradition tells, the night before the kids set their wooden shoes in front of the fire-place. The next morning we will have breakfast in our pajamas, with a roaring fire. Everyone gets “something to do, something to read and something to eat”. That is it. And as that is what the now grown kids expect from breakfasts around the fireplace, that is also what we do for stockings. Except for Christmas I add something to wear with a festive touch and either a Christmas decoration, or something funny. No fillers, no junk sweets, no junk nothing.

Findig the key to new traditions

Finding the key to new traditions

Of course I still have to buy or make it, but it is so much easier to do when you know you are buying four plaid pajama pants and four books and so on.

Have you ever tried being a foreigner? Say if you forgot everything anybody had told you about how thanksgiving or Christmas or birthdays was supposed to be celebrated, and could decide a new take on how you would do it? I love traditions, and as I also like playing with words I look at it this way.

Tradition comes from the latin word tradere which means to hand over.

As we grow we are allowed to and have to carry more and more of the bundle of things our forebears have put in that handover pile. I think our responsibility to the next generation is to know what we hand over to them. Traditions could be a great tool to remind each other of the things we do not know how to say. Traditions should enhance our values not exhaust us. Most of all traditions should be the joint effort of everyone it concerns, there is no priesthood for Christmas goddesses.

Which leaves us with the responsibility to add, to deduct to change and to enhance before we hand that Christmas bundle over.

Believe me, I know better than most how frantic and exhausting it is possible to make the season of peace and goodwill. The main story on Indexyourlife in December will be my way to a Christmas free of tangles.

In December my brother and I write an advent calendar blog together in norwegian.You may visit at  JULEFRYD or Christmas Joy. This year we will be writing or sharing thoughts and joys of gifts, giving and sharing. We will post there every day, and I will share some of that blog here on indexyourlife too.

All pictures at Indexyourlife are mine, if not otherwise stated.

December 4th- the takeaway Christmas

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Tiny people, big system

Tiny people, big system

It is all about perspective, most of the time we are a fixed part of the picture though, which makes it difficult to change where we stand and what we see. Sometimes we even feel trapped in a supposed set of traditions. And then, sometimes we are lucky, and get to see something we thought we knew, but from the outside. To me the best kickstart for having new thoughts about Christmas has been to live abroad.

26 years ago, we lived in the Netherlands. I knew how Christmas was supposed to be then, and expected it to be more or less similar to what I knew from Norway. After all, we are almost neighbors, the religion is the same and the people look alike. And then they mixed it all up! They had all their gift giving at Sinter Klaas, on December 5th, and all their dressing up on New Years eve. Which left Christmas in the middle, as a time for going to church, for visiting and relaxing. The Norwegian tradition puts all the stress on Christmas Eve. That night is the time where we traditionally serve the meal everyone gets stressed out about. That is the night where everybody is dressed in their very best, where everything should be decorated, and when everyone shall have gifts. That is also the one day of the year where most people go to Church.

As the Sinter Klaas food was unknown to me, I did not bother about that. As no one bothered about Christmas being like this or like that, I did not have to bother about that either. Which was a blessing for all of us. I had given birth to our second daughter on the 3rd, and did for different reasons not come home from hospital until the week before Christmas. I would have had to slow down anyway, but I was able to slow down only when I saw everybody else was doing it. So one day we talked about what we should have for dinner when we were not going to be traditional. Why not have something we really liked, the best thing we could think of, something worthy of a celebration?

We did. At Christmas Eve I had a long nap. As dusk was falling I lighted the candles and Stig and our oldest daughter came home with all the trappings for a Rijstafel, bought at our favorite takeaway. It was a great success.

Did we continue to do that? No.But it made us able to create our own traditions, the meal we like to serve, and that we all enjoy to make. Which is almost as good as a takeaway, by the way, we have not decided for this year yet…..pizza?

The only thing that is sure, when it comes to getting entangled in expectations: you have to be your own life guard.

Glorious, but no life guard on duty

Glorious, but no life guard on duty

Believe me, I know better than most how frantic and exhausting it is possible to make the season of peace and goodwill. The main story on Indexyourlife in December will be my way to a Christmas free of tangles.

In December my brother and I write an advent calendar blog together in norwegian.You may visit at  JULEFRYD or Christmas Joy. This year we will be writing or sharing thoughts and joys of gifts, giving and sharing. We will post there every day, and I will share some of that blog here on indexyourlife too.

All pictures at Indexyourlife are mine, if not otherwise stated.

December 3rd – the serve again meal

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Mrs. Claus is getting wiser.

Mrs. Claus is getting wiser.

One of the first Christmas pictures I remember was taken when my father was still a student. We lived in a tiny student housing and money was scarce. What did they do for Christmas? The picture shows my mother with a pig’s head and a toothbrush, cleaning it to make the traditional pressed meat. That was just the start, as we moved to bigger houses more and more of the traditional fare was prepared and consumed around Christmas. My parents made it all themselves, hams and cold cuts, chutney and cheeses, sausages and pates.

The first Christmas my husband and me were to celebrate in our own home, I bought half a lamb and a pig and was ready to start. I just checked with him to ask if there was something special he wanted. Nothing, he did not want anything. Not to be kind, he just was not used to that way of celebrating. Deeply troubling to a traditionalist like me. This had to be done, and it looked like I was the one that had to do it. For some years I forced ahead. Never on the same scale as my parents, but always making lots of strange stuff we were not able to finish.I even made fun of everyone who tried to behave and prepare like they lived on a big farm with lots of people when most actually lived in small apartments.

Accordingly I made smaller and smaller portions, until I almost stopped. Then I saw the movie by Astrid Lindgren, about Emil who carried all the Christmas food out of the pantry to serve the poor, and I remembered why we always prepared lots of food for Christmas. It was to always be prepared for any guest, and to have something to share.
The traditional foodstuff can be carried in and out of the pantry, it can be served again and again. It is prepared for a time before refrigerators and does not turn bad for days.

Come in from the cold!

Come in from the cold!

The tradition was to serve this food for almost every meal, and to everyone through Christmas, how neat is that! Never to think about what to serve or to plan for different meals!
At Christmas it is only the time of day that decides what kind of meal it is. Christmas breakfast, Christmas lunch and Christmas supper is all the same, different variations of what is in the pantry. Everyone expects that and knows what they will get. Easy.
Another bonus, never any leftovers that should be concealed as something else, just plain good food until the ham is eaten. Great. To make small portions just to have a taste of Christmas was actually quite stupid.

I had to look for the essence of that idea. What kind of food did we like, could we afford, could we prepare or buy in advance in big quantities, store and be ready to serve at any time for a couple of weeks?

Chairs and tables are not enough

Chairs and tables are not enough

How could we welcome anyone without planning, without fretting and without hassle, at any time, no matter what other activities we were doing?

We are still working on that, in the reverse way. I do not make everything, I buy most, always with the criteria above in my mind. My new motto became: to be prepared for anything while playing along  as we go. Then I do not make or buy anything that does not fit that plan. Of course the freezer makes it possible to cheat, and I do. I do not even wait till Christmas, I do it now. Fill my freezer with hams and cuts, smoked salmon and cured meats, everyone are welcome, anytime, I will soon be ready!

If not, we could always do take-away, but that is tomorrow’s story.

Believe me, I know better than most how frantic and exhausting it is possible to make the season of peace and goodwill. The main story on Indexyourlife in December will be my way to a Christmas free of tangles.

In December my brother and I write an advent calendar blog together in norwegian.You may visit at  JULEFRYD or Christmas Joy. This year we will be writing or sharing thoughts and joys of gifts, giving and sharing. We will post there every day, and I will share some of that blog here on indexyourlife too.

All pictures at Indexyourlife are mine, if not otherwise stated.

December 2nd – the merry newspaperboy

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IMG_1714 peisgirlanderIt was still dark outside as I opened the door to hang out the Christmas wreath on our front door. The day before there was no Christmas anywhere in our house. Now the tree was glittering, every surface was decorated, the stockings were full, the windows had Christmas curtains. The tables had Christmas tablecloths, and yes, the teddy bears and dolls had Christmas ribbons on.

I put the wreath in place and stepped back to admire my work. Then a happy voice called out: ” Merry Christmas!” it was the newspaperboy trudging through the snow at six o’clock in the morning. Then he added: “Why are you up so early? Isn’t it a holiday?” I am sure I smiled, I am sure I said the right thing, I did not tell him the truth though. I had not been in bed at all. When the kids finally where in bed the night before I had started a whirlwind of activity that had taken me through the whole night.

Now I was ready to stagger with bloodshot eyes into Christmas, ready to fight to keep my eyes open, longing to be in bed, while everybody else was getting ready. Later that day we sat next to my good friend and her family at Christmas Eve service. We both fell asleep. I did not keep my secret from her, “when did you go to bed?”I said. It was when she answered “not yet” we both knew that we had to keep this secret, as no-one would agree that any Christmas decorations was worth it.

I think that was the start of our decline. From the mountain of self-declared queens of Christmas  into the calm vallies and peaceful meadows of being Christmas friends.

The first step was leaving the tradition of magical transformation behind. From then on I allowed Christmas to tiptoe silently and graciously into my home from the first of December. Every day I do one thing that could evolve into the Christmas I want. Make a wreath, buy some gifts, prepare some food. Then, at the 24th of December, Christmas is here and I embrace it as it is. Now a days I might even be enjoy greeting the newspaperboy, as it will never be at the ending of the night, but at the crisp, magical beginning of Christmas, with me, rested and happy in the middle of it all.

Just now though, I will light the fire, curl up on the couch and listen to Christmas music. In my heart there will be Christmas already!

Believe me, I know better than most how frantic and exhausting it is possible to make the season of peace and goodwill. The main story on Indexyourlife in December will be my way to a Christmas free of tangles.

In December my brother and I write an advent calendar blog together in norwegian.You may visit at  JULEFRYD or Christmas Joy. This year we will be writing or sharing thoughts and joys of gifts, giving and sharing. We will post there every day, and I will share some of that blog here on indexyourlife too.

All pictures at Indexyourlife are mine, if not otherwise stated.

December 1st – Christmas free of tangles

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Sometimes, some things are just not done

Sometimes, some things are just not done

My mother used to tell this story of the Advent when my kid brother had the croup, my two-year old sister was diagnosed with severe mental handicaps, and where most of us had the flu. “I did not do anything for Christmas that year, but somehow it got to be Christmas anyway,” she said.

When we grew up, we did not believe her, no way everything had been as chaotic as that? We six children had not experienced anything else than pure Christmas magic.

When I started out as a housewife my self, I did not believe her. There won’t be any Christmas unless, until and before this and that and more is done. I was brilliant at it. My friends and family told me how wonderful our Christmases were. I had several ideas for books on the theme Christmas decorations, Christmas lists, and Christmas gifts.

Nature is at it's most peaceful

Nature is at it’s most peaceful

The most stressful tradition of them all was the Scandinavian one that Christmas happens between the 23rd and the 24th of December. The children should go to bed in a messy, advent home with no red or green, and awake to a decorated fairyland with a glittering tree.I was not allowed to do have anything to do with this until I married. Then it was all up to me, and I had everything to do with this surprising piece of magic.

It took years before I believed my mother. One december morning I finally could tell my self:

“You are not the Christmas Miracle!”

To me that was the slight turn of perspective that made me rediscover advent and put me on the path to truly joyous Christmas preparations. Along this road I have made wrong steps and some smart moves which is what I will write about this advent. Come along, or lean back and rest in your own hassle free way to Christmas Joy!

While I used to insist on activity

While I used to insist on activity

Believe me, I know better than most how frantic and exhausting it is possible to make the season of peace and goodwill. The main story on Indexyourlife in December will be my way to a Christmas free of tangles.

In December my brother and I write an advent calendar blog together in norwegian.You may visit at  JULEFRYD or Christmas Joy. This year we will be writing or sharing thoughts and joys of gifts, giving and sharing. We will post there every day, and I will share some of that blog here on indexyourlife too.

All pictures at Indexyourlife are mine, if not otherwise stated.

Simplest of the simple, and yet….

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IMG_0923Life is a messy business. I really do not know why I keep adding to the mess. Open my cupboards and you will wonder, why does she not keep it tidy? As just now, why is the cheese slicer in the same drawer as the matches? Are they ever used together? Well, sometimes…

Is it more time-consuming to put the named cheese slicer with the cutlery. Well it could be, but I am not that busy am I?

The thing is, I need space and order to think, but I do not naturally create space and order. Another of my great-grandmother’s sayings is “everything that is not stolen or burnt up will return,” could be true,  I just am to impatient to wait for that.

Accordingly this is how I keep just enough organized.

1. I bundle.
For instance :When I empty one garbage can, say in the kitchen, I try to go through the house and do the others as well.
If I buy one gift, I think of others that would like the same and buy more.

2. I use the time I have.
For instance: I clear out my purse, when I change into another. I clear out the named cutlery drawer and not my whole kitchen, while emptying the dish washer. I delete messages when waiting in line.

3. I sort when I need it.
For instance: filing all email concerning one case when I am dealing with that.

4. I always de clutter when looking for something

5. I clear out one space every day, which means I pretty much go through my house once a year.

6. Most of all and through it all, I prioritize. Not according to what others think is important, but according to the bigger goals of my life. Does searching for a cheese slicer make me a bad person? Of course it does not. Using time to search for the slicer, when I could have called someone, written a note, or just being quiet is, if not bad, it sure is wasteful.

Order is never about systems, it is always about what would you rather do than search. On the other hand, if looking for things keeps the treasure hunter alive in you, go ahead. Keep messy, you could even have a go at my drawers.

In November I take part in the NaBloPoMo,  in the BlogHer network. I post every day on “The Untangling Tens” what women do when life gets tangled. These are the ten tools that worked for those I have asked, what are yours?

The pictures in this blog are always by me, Solveig Mjolsnes. This one is of my 150 years old sewing table, which I probably think will help me keep my threads in order.

There is no time for killing trolls

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Kick sleds for kick starts

Kick sleds for kick starts

The time is never right for killing trolls, my great-grandmother used to say, even so they had to be killed.
I think she wanted us to learn that we might as well get the unpleasant chores over with. There was no use waiting for the right mood neither for doing the dishes nor our homework.
Life is more complicated though, the trolls does not only come to stay, they gang up on us. We all know that, no crisis arrives alone. Very seldom are we allowed the luxury of dealing with one difficulty at the time. Most often they are all entangled in each other and becomes the many-headed troll in the norse fairy tales.
The only funny thing about it is that it surprises us.
Even stranger is the fact that the most entangling times are the ones that return at the same time every year and still we are not prepared.
Well how prepared could you be? I remember one day weeks before Christmas a neighbor came sailing at her usual speed into the store where we were waiting in line. “That’s that then” she proclaimed, and continued “The tree is done, the food is ready, the gifts are wrapped, I am all set.” She looked triumphantly at us slackers. The shop-keeper was not impressed “why not do Easter while you are at it?”

She probably considered it a good idea. At least that is how most of us live, always preparing for the future, doing so much work to avoid tangles later. The thing is though that no matter what we prepare for we are not sages and what we visualize is an ideal event, which is not always what happens. We plan as if the Christmas dinner is the only thing in life that week, and seem to forget life itself. I know. This is one of the basics I have learned through a life of lists.

Just too much?

Just too much?

If I can not be prepared for everything that will happen, why not prepare for the things I know will come? Isn’t that a contradiction? To me it isn’t. It is all about using my energy on getting the basic routines to function.
One of them is food. As we know there will be trolls to kill, even at the happiest of times. We also know that the strength to do that will not come from party food or appetizers. No matter how well-coordinated they are to the given holiday. And even if they have to do, they will not do if the person who is exhausted by making them also is supposed to be the troll-slayer.

So these are my not-so-secret tools for being a happy hostess, as ready to handle tangles and trolls as possible:

1. Know, plan and stock up on the healthy basics everybody, and most of all you, needs to function.
For me? If I have whole-wheat bread, coffee,granola and yoghurt, orange juice and eggs, I am in luxury heaven. Without, I am sluggish and tired no matter how many croissants or left over turkey-sandwiches I am offered. All those items can be bought now and stored.

2. Be prepared for life to continue as usual.
Why should anyone have to rush out for detergent, toilet paper or tooth paste on the night before Christmas?
3. Kill of the small trolls ahead of time.
Do it at once. Schedule bills to be paid, arrange for flowers to be delivered, order and pick up tickets now.
4. Weed out the really tiny troll sprouts today, and they will not have time to grow before Thanksgiving or Christmas.
What is that? Could be to check, replace and stock on light bulbs all over your house. Count towels and plates and all the other stuff you will need, restock.
5.Know your plans and obligations, more is not merrier. Back out now if you have too much, so that they will have time to find replacements.
6. Make room.
Holidays fill your home with stuff. It needs places to go. If a total declutter event is too much, clear or toss an item every time you wait for something. When decorating, do the spots that are not in regular use, life needs space too!

7. Remember, all holidays are made to make us cherish, remember and celebrate what is important to us, our family, our culture or the faith we belong to. How would I prepare a holiday  that made that true, still?

Trees inside? Perfect for hiding.

Trees inside? Perfect for hiding.

In November I take part in the NaBloPoMo,  in the BlogHer network. I post every day on “The Untangling Tens” what women do when life gets tangled. These are the ten tools that worked for those I have asked, what are yours?

All pictures in this blog are taken by me, Solveig Mjolsnes.

Pick a stone

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IMG_1030 stonesI collect stones. Stones with strange patterns. Stones with holes in them. Stones with fossils. Stones in wonderful colors. Most of them are polished by sea and wind, each season more beautiful than the last. A couple have words on written on them, all have a story to tell.

I keep some in a glass bowl on my table.
We were having coffee, she was crying. Everyone is against me, I can not go back to that job, they all say different things on what is wrong with me, she sobbed. It could be true, I did not protest. She wanted to know what she should do.

Pick a stone for each of your colleagues and tell me about them I said. She did. The stones were evaluated, this black one is a doctor, this aqua one the other nurse, and so on. They were all placed on a long line. Where are you then? I asked. She searched through the bowl once more and finally came up with a small grey rough stone. Put yourself in the middle I said. She was not able to do that. She choose a spot outside the line with the other fifteen.

No let’s make some piles I said. What do they say to you. She remembered something that everyone had said, and I made her think it over. Was it really about her? Was it about her way of reacting, was it something she really had done wrong, were they actually ganging up on her? She talked, moved the stones, sorted them. Close to the end of the session there were two piles and two single stones, herself and her boss. She was able to start thinking about the messages the person in each pile sent her. Perhaps there was things she could talk through with them?

There still was the issue with her boss. In some way or other that had to be resolved.  We did not go into that yet. We did not talk about how to approach the others. In fact we did not do anything else than take another look at the mess, trying to find the elements that could be left for now, trying to select what would be the first step.

Her exercise until our next talk would be just that, to remember, they were not all against her. Next time we would practice the eventualities of her talk with her boss, we would perhaps schedule an appointment for both of them. Not know, for now she was just to find strength in the fact that there was another way of looking at life. She was not alone.