Christmas Eve

Cook always provides the beautiful Winter Wonderland promised in Christmas songs. The ground was covered in snow when we arrived and has slowly kept piling up. The sun came out a little on Christmas Eve and caused everything to sparkle.

Inside the house it is toasty warm and cozy which is perfect for cuddling up and taking a nap. Even Izzy, the German Shepherd Dog, can't resist!

In the evening we sat down together for Christmas Eve snacks complete with Christmas Punch.

Afterward, we tried to walk off some of our Christmas Eve cookies with a stroll in the woods. The snow was absolutely brilliant by the light of the full moon. The blanketed wood was positively glittering with the Spirit of Christmas. Although the picture looks eerie, the forest has never been more inviting.

Before bed we were able to fit in a couple of Christmas Classics: Home Alone and Muppet Christmas Carol.

Christmas Cookies

The tradition of baking Christmas Cookies is alive and well in the Hauta Home! Mom and I spent a lot of Tuesday and Wednesday in the kitchen preparing doughs, rolling them in powdered sugar, and waiting for things to come out of the oven and cool down.

The final result (not including our "tastings" and Christmas Eve desserts) is eight tupperwares high full of Sugar Cookies, Russian Teacakes, Peanut Blossoms, Candied Fruit Slices, Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, Pecan Tarts, and Pfeffernusse! Mom even said that this is less than she usually makes.

I was happy that mom was willing to try out a Pfeffernusse recipe. I remember the cookies from my time in Germany and have loved them ever since! We even tried three kinds of icing: vanilla, orange, and almond.

They're all so good and different it's hard to say what's best!

Christmas and Messiah

Sunday was a busy day for us! I sang parts of Handel's Messiah both in a morning mass and an evening presentation. It's always a joy to sing under the direction of Tracey Gibbens, who is just as passionate about music as he is kind. It's also fun when Nolan is able to sing bass in the choir!

In between the two Messiahs Nolan and I rehearsed, ate dinner, and then performed a Christmas Music Devotional with Matt and Marissa Faerber with narration by David Gore. It was a little bit of everything: piano, voice, cello, trombone, harp, and even organ!


The Christmas Music Devotional has become a treasured tradition between me and the Faerbers and I am so grateful for their talent, musicality, and desire to share beautiful music at Christmas Time!

Duluth and Duluth East

We were so grateful to spend time in Duluth with our good friends, especially Marissa Faerber! On Friday we saw Star Wars with her and on Saturday (after many rehearsals for Sunday and a delicious dinner with our accordion friend, Robin Floyd) we were able to attend her last Christmas Concert at Duluth East High School.


We were so happy and proud to see her play because we have so often been double booked and unable to see her perform. First she played cello with Sterling Strings, an elite group of string players, and then as second chair in the orchestra. You can get a glimpse of her behind the too tall cellist in first chair. We're so lucky to have Marissa and all of the other Faerbers in our life!

Grandma King

On Sunday, December 13th, Nolan's Grandma King passed away at the age of 89 after a day full of visits from loved ones. Virginia King was a fun-loving, caring, intelligent, hard-working, and beautiful person. She was loved dearly by her whole family and all those who knew her. The staff at her assisted-living home all loved her and never once heard her complain.

Grandma King was an avid ice skater and golfer even into her retirement years. She was also in a bowling league for many years while she worked for the railroad. She was an active volunteer at Christ Lutheran Church throughout her many decades living in Lake Elmo. With 12 brothers and sisters, Grandma King was not able to have any pets as a child but she loved animals dearly and cared for many neighborhood pets over the years. This is just one example of her limitless kindness and desire to help others. She was also known for her green thumb and the gardens she kept; a plentiful vegetable garden as well as beautiful flowers everywhere.

Grandma King loved all kinds of music and Nolan and I were grateful to be able to visit her often and sing her Christmas carols, hymns and one of her favorites: You Are My Sunshine.

Funeral services were in Lake Elmo on Friday December 18th. Grandma King will be missed during this time of separation!

Music

Posting about Nolan's concerts made me realize I failed to post about my musical endeavors of the past month! In November I played in my second accordion recital.

I always love playing and singing with the accordion band as a part of the recital as well.

I also had a small concert with Sonomento, a choir that I've been singing with in the cities. Our big concert is January 31st at 7pm at the MacPhail Center for Music. If you're in town you should come hear us sing!

Buffalo Christmas Concert

On December 12th, after singing at the church Christmas party, I drove out to Buffalo to see Nolan play with the Buffalo Community Orchestra. The concert was great and featured a lot of groups with fun arrangements of Christmas songs.

Along with a full orchestra and choir there was a bell choir which played a very entertaining version of Fum, Fum, Fum. The sound of the groups all together was lovely and inspiring. We even stayed for a bit of the after party and enjoyed the cookies and jazz music!

City Lights

Nolan and I have used some of our free nights together to check out some of the lights in the Twin Cities area. We'll heat up some hot chocolate and take it on the road. We've seen all kinds. From a-little-bit-of-everything...

To very classic and traditional...

To a light show at a nearby church that told the story of the birth of Christ...

And to a light show synchronized to music broadcast over radio.

It was always fun to go home and see our personal tiny light show from our beautiful tiny Christmas tree gifted to us by our not-so-tiny friends Jon and Tina Christensen.

December Band Concerrt

December 8th marked Nolan's first band concert with the Eden Lake 6th graders. It was fun for me to be able to go and support him and do all the small things (like setting up signs) while Nolan did all the grunt work of corralling children and warming them up.

They sounded great as they performed some challenging music including some themes from the Nutcracker Suite and ending with an upbeat Feliz Navidad. They all began and ended at the same time and stayed together in the middle. Bravi Tutti!

Pikkujoulu

Nolan and I were asked to provide some music for the Finnish American Historical Society's Pikkujoulu (Little Christmas) celebration. We had no idea what to expect and were pleased to find the room packed with 300 Finns!

Dinner was delicious and I was made an honorary Finn with a Sisu bracelet. (Sisu being an untranslatable Finnish word that encompasses concepts of perseverance, determination, tenacity, and guts) It's a good thing I was endowed with that band because I definitely needed sisu to get through my first accordion gig with my accordion playing husband.

We played a 20 minute program of various Christmas, Finnish, and other accordion music. It was a great way to start the Christmas season and celebrate Nolan's Finnish heritage. Hyvää joulua to all!

DSSO Messiah

Another benefit of being in Duluth the first weekend of December was to chance to see our friend, Tina Christensen, as the alto soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. She sang a very good first Messiah and we were thrilled to be there to support her.

December Beginnings at Bentleyville

Nolan and I began the month of December with a weekend trip to Duluth. While we were there we made sure to drop by the Bentleyville Tour of Lights. The weather was great which meant we were there with hundreds of close friends but it was well worth it.

We were happy to have two very close friends tour the lights with us, Ron and Karen Stratton. They have been serving a mission in Duluth, MN and we were happy to see them one last time before they went home to Idaho. Nolan met with them often while we were dating to ask them questions and learn about the church. They certainly hold a very special place in our hearts!

Although the lines were long we were happy to wait for the free hot chocolate, cookies, and popcorn. We skipped the complimentary marshmallows for s'mores this year. Got to leave something for next year!

Happy Holidazzle

When we got back to Minneapolis on Saturday we took the time to check out Holidazzle, a European style Christmas market right in the middle of Minneapolis. Holidazzle used to host a parade but two years ago they called quits on the parade and set up this weekend Christmas market instead. Kris Kringle was there to greet all the visitors.

Käthe Wohlfahrt was also there selling their recognizable Christmas decorations. It made me miss Germany!

What also made me miss Germany was the tent selling cinnamon roasted nuts. Nolan and I settled on pecans. YUM!

We had fun getting into the holiday spirit by perusing all of the food tents, listening to live Christmas music, and watching ice skaters on the rink.

We also enjoyed seeing the beautiful ice globes! It's a fun twist on Nolan's family tradition of cylindrical ice lanterns.

I love winter projects! The lanterns look beautiful on the ground and just as magical as hanging.

A Sunny Black Friday

On Black Friday Nolan and I drove to his Grandma Sunny's house for a visit. As Nolan likes it, we didn't come across one other car during the drive. Grandma Sunny still lives on the same farm Nolan's dad grew up on. This 40 acre farm is right next to a river for canoeing and still has the old barn where the horses used to be.

Grandma Sunny, who is an excellent artist, gave us this vase as a belated wedding gift. I feel proud that we got a piece of art with Grandma Sunny's specialty: Chickadees. I look forward to finding flowers for it and displaying it in our home.

We were also lucky to get a few ornaments for our Christmas tree. Now we just need to get the tree! This is my favorite. I absolutely love the colors.

We had a fun time talking to Grandma Sunny about family, old times, and new times. We're glad to have had the opportunity to visit her!

Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving we drove to the Hauta family home in Cook, MN. Here we have the pleasure of enjoying a quiet holiday in the woods of Minnesota far away from any hustle and bustle or commercialism.

We also have the pleasure of below freezing temperatures. It didn't get above 32 degrees our whole stay there.

Nolan's mom, Pat, provided a feast complete with turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, wild rice, stuffing, corn, cranberry sauce, rolls, and three different kinds of pie!

It was such a delight to spend the day with Nolan's parents, Gary and Pat, his Grandma Sunny, his brother Evan, Evan's girlfriend, Hannah, and Hannah' daughter, Aubrey. We're lucky to have such a beautiful and peaceful place to go and celebrate the holiday!

Dinner with the Pattersons

Nolan and I had a wonderful dinner with our friends, the Pattersons. We were so entertained by their 1910 player piano which they had restored so it is completely functional. Here is Nolan playing Rhapsody in Blue. From amateur to virtuoso! Pumping the air is a pretty good workout but well worth it for all the sing-a-longs and dance tunes.

Nolan with Linden Hills

Though it was a tight schedule I was able to see Nolan play trombone in the Linden Hills Community Orchestra. They had a wonderful soloist for Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 and they also played Symphony No. 5 by Sibelius. I was unfamiliar with the Sibelius but it was fantastic. It made me realize I need more Sibelius in my life.

Minnesota's Magic Flute

Nolan and I joined Minnesota Opera again on their social media preview night for Mozart's The Magic Flute.

The production boasts a very different type of staging which puts the opera in a world of animation. The singers interact with a very simple set on which projections are displayed.

Papageno's first aria featured many birds which flew and perched on Tamino in the bottom left,

The style paid homage to the silent film of the early 20th century and as such the dialogue portions were not spoken but rather projected on the screen as well. There were things that were over my head, such as the flying fairy magic flute and the little bells which also had dancer legs, but I suppose not all art is meant to be understood.

The Queen of the Night was portrayed as a giant spider lady which provided absolutely no confusion as to whether or not I liked her.

In contrast, Sarastro's first appearance was made as a giant head with noble attributes and industry.

The production was delightful and charming for this popular opera which has so much contrast: comic and serious, fairy tale and philosophy.

If it's not too late Minnesota Opera is selling discounted $25 tickets online with the promo code Social25.