Tis the season to be jolly.....

Dear Lerhol Family and Friends....

Well here I am...alone with a glass of wine and a very quite house.  Scott  and Alex are in Las Vegas for our brother-in-law and niece's very special birthday celebrations...50th and 21st respectively.  Sondre is tucked away for a good nights sleep in preparation of a full day of  Nordic skiing at Trollhagen in the morning. I think he is worn out from doing his Christmas shopping tonight.  We have to get the package in the mail soon to make sure it arrives in Vang Norway for Christmas.

The last few weeks have been action packed, as usual...an AFS fundraiser, the Reindeer Run, Christmas tree shopping and decorating and the year-end football banquet...and Nordic skiing of course.

Nordic skiing is going well...it takes a great deal of discipline and physical capability.  He has practice every day after school and on Saturday's...so between school and sports he is pretty busy. He was asked to practice with a group of the more elite skiers...so I suspect he will have a good season.  Oh yeah...his grades continue to be good too. 

Last Saturday Sondre had to work at an AFS fund-raiser.  All of the AFS students had to sell fruit to raise money for the program.  He actually was the top-seller...thanks to many of our family and friends. The kids had to work in the warehouse and pack all of the boxes and then deliver them.  While Sondre was doing that, Scott and I were participating in the annual Reindeer Run/Walk.  It is an annual holiday event where everyone dresses up in holiday gear and run/walk around Lake Harriett.  After the event we went back our good friend's house...the Paulson's for a great brunch and laughs. 

Mr. and Mrs. Claus cheering on all of the runners.

Not a bad crowd...for a pretty cold day.

After the Reindeer Run, we picked Sondre up and went to pick out our Christmas tree...we found a really great one.  Sondre can tell you just how picky we are.  We are known for our Christmas tree, so we are very selective.  The best part was that we had extra muscle to get it in the house this year.  Normally, I am the one that has to drag the tree in the house with Scott but this year I was able to "direct" Scott and Sondre and not get tree sap all over my hands...it was nice.  We put on some great Christmas music on and enjoyed the evening very much. Amelia slept over that night so it was even more special to have a curious 3 year old helping us.   "Pretty, what's that", but her best line was...Glamma that was fun". I nearly melted.

"Is it straight?"  We have to tie it up...because in past years we have had a fully-decorated tree tip over.  Now that is NOT fun...trust me.

Thank goodness they are both tall...

Then we decorated the house for Christmas...but Sondre won't let us post any pictures because he wants to surprise Torstien and Knut when they arrive in Minnesota in a few weeks.  Stay-tuned for more pictures then.  We are expecting 50 people for Christmas dinner so we are already in preparation for a big day.  Our heated garage will be full of tables, people and good cheer.

Christmas is a very emotional time of year for my family and me (Mom and sisters).  When I was in high school, my little brother Billy and his best friend  Mark were both hit by a car and both died.  It was paralyzing for our family, community and church.  He was a wonderful and beautiful 12 year boy whose life was cut tragically short. Our family survived because of the unbelievable courage of my parents and the love and support from our community of friends.  I cannot wait for you all to meet my Mom (my dad died 15 years ago). She is the most inspiring woman in the world and has been a role model for me, my sisters and our children.  She was able to work through unbearable grief because she had four daughters to raise.  Frankly, she is the rock star of our family.  She is loved by her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren too.  God works in mysterious ways...because 9 years later (just 2 hours from the anniversary of my brother's death) my life changed in the the most wonderful way when my daughter Courtney was born.  Not only did I find out what unconditional love was it made a reflective time of year for our family very joyous.  She is now a wonderful mother...and in a few months a new little member of our family will be arriving.  Happy Birthday Courtney Anne.
On Sunday we had the end-of-the season football banquet....it was a very nice event.  There was a fun video of the season highlights (Sondre has a copy), great food and lots of speeches by the coaches.  When the head coach got up and did his "top-ten list" for the season, we were pleasantly surprised when he said one of his season highlights was having "a Norwegian, who had never played football as a wide-receiver".  Scott and I were really proud at that moment...we channeled our inner Jon and Sigrun so you could be proud virtually.  His wide-rreceiver coach also mentioned him...and the crazy "small-world" story about how he and Sondre are actually distant relatives.   

The video....a picture of Sondre with us

Sondre shaking the hand of his wide-receivers coach...a wonderful coach and teacher.

Getting his "letter" for completing his football season.

We are looking forward to all of the activities around the house in the next few weeks and especially excited to have Knut and Torstein experience an American Christmas with us and  also their relatives in Minnesota.  We have a ton of fun stuff planned so get ready boys.  The added bonus is that Pamela and Jackson will be here for nearly two weeks.  We will miss Billy while is out on deployment  with the Navy but he will be with us in spirit as will Synne, Jon and Sigrun.

Lots of love,

Alix and Scott Colehour