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This year’s Christmas letter is authored by me, Solbjørg Makalani, to wish you all a Merry Christmas and to give you a glimpse of the doings of my family. But, in fact, I probably write most for my own therapy – in order to digest all the impressions and shocks imposed on me by my family this year.

Solbjørg, Magnar, Ingrid on Devastation Trail, Hawaii

The spring of ’07 went relatively well, and the summer too. Most of my family members behaved roughly as normal. The kids went to school and the parents to work. Ingrid, Magnar and I were leaders on KRIK-camp together in June. That’s just the way we like to spend our summer time. Then, this fall, I went to Hawaii to study for one semester. I learned a lot and had a great experience. But, as it turned out, one should not just leave one's family without supervision. If you do, strange things can happen...

One of my first shocks was embedded in an e-mail that I received from my long-legged 17 year-old sister, Ingrid. I guess that I have always known that she is kind of special. Already early on, Ingrid showed that she did not fit quite within the standard Myrtveit-family-pattern. Her jokes were mainly about carrot loving rabbits. She gives sermons in church. And she is not afraid of speaking in front of crowds. She is happy, open, and outreaching with a large number of friends (who call themselves Team Nancy – don’t ask me why, but Ingrid behaves just as if that is quite normal). In addition, Ingrid takes drama lessons instead of chemistry at school – can you believe it? It has worried me for a while that Ingrid exhibits such tendencies in the direction of independent thinking, but I never believed that it would go this far! (I – Ingrid – must add that I did not challenge all family values; after all: I do study three natural science subjects, in spite of my drama).

I (back to Sobjørg) was reading my e-mail, and expected an update along the lines “went to school, had dinner, ...”. But what do I read??? Ingrid writes page upon page about player contracts in Brann (Bergen’s soccer team) and the team’s scores in their league! Her closing remarks are about a new family member, a chubby gold fish called Ariana – named after (soccer player) Jon Arne Riese’s daughter. I am losing my breath; Ingrid has gained an interest in soccer – what is happening to my family???

Luckily, I thought, I can rely upon my Magnar - my rather predictable, soft spoken computer-nerd brother. But listen what he does? He leaves his computer at home and goes far north to Alta to “study” expeditions in the wilderness at Øytun Folkehøgskule. Who would have believed that Magnar would thrive with skies on his feet all day long?

During the fall I expected e-mails and letters from him, complaining about the cold weather and how much he longed for us to get home again, so we could pick up our dancing activities, just as in the good old times. But what happens? When I finally get a word from him, his entire e-mail reads like this (from Norwegian). “Nja. I should probably inform you that I’ve a girlfriend now”. That’s it. My former happy and bonded family is not possible to recognize anymore!

Fortunately, parents do not change, I thought. What a great relief! Then, in October, my family came to visit me in Hawaii. This time it was mammy who scared me the most. All my life, every holiday trip with the family has been anchored around museum visits from 8 to 4, or more if they are open longer. I had always believed that my mother, the devoted school teacher, was incredibly interested in history, art and culture. So I had saved all the tourist attractions within this category to the time when my family would visit. But mammy refused to take part in any activity of that sort. “Museum? No! That’s something we did when you were kids in order to entertain you on our trips”. She preferred to enjoy the beach. My identity as a Myrtveit is falling apart. I do not know who and what my family is anymore!

I had to think, and it came to me that there is still one column left in the family. Daddy, reached the age of fifty, secure and stable. I guess nobody can change anymore when they reach his age. I was wrong – again. A few days later my daddy called, still short of breath after a challenging session doing Pilates exercises. My former keyboard-addicted daddy, informs me that he has bought weighs that he lifts up and down in order to develop his leg muscles – as he has signed up for the bicycle race between Trondheim and Oslo next year, 350 miles (650 km). And by that, my last hope vanished. No one behaves the way they should, and I cannot think of anything else than that I have to make my way home to my disturbed family for Christmas, and see if I can bring it back on its feet. That’s my Christmas project.

I hope that all is well with you, who read this. And I wish you a relaxing and NORMAL Christmas and a Happy New Year. Now I must return to my family....

Greetings from helsing Solbjørg, Magnar, Ingrid, Astrid, and Magne

Magne, Magnar, Solbjørg

Ingrid, Astrid