The Jule Nisse strikes again, Dorrington, CA.

Along with my holiday well-wishes, gentle reader, please accept my sincerest apologies. LD went dark, as they say in the theater world. Due to an unexpected lack of internet access, it spent a week as the blogular analog to AWOL: Offline With Out Notice, or OWON. (Not that I see that nouveau acronym taking off anytime soon.)

Back to our regularly scheduled chit-chat on Monday. Meanwhile, I’ve got a few more pictures and some catching up after the jump.

We left home on the Winter Solstice, and spent this past OWON week up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where snowy beauty and tall trees prevailed.

At my sister’s cabin, they celebrate both a Norwegian and an all-purpose Americanesque Christmas holiday (she spent over 15 years in Norway, marrying and giving birth to both her sons there). The lil’ monkey met the Jule Nisse for the first time on Christmas Eve at my sister’s place, and she was suitably impressed. When she reported back to her Gramma about it, she mantained that “The Jule Nisse is a lot bigger than Santa Claus.”

Back at the rental cabin where we holed up with the beloved’s extendo family, the lil’ monkey never clapped eyes on Santa. She did, however, score a way glam glittery sparkly dress from her glam glittery sparkly Auntie Rachel, who had duly prepared us in advance for it (”You’re gonna kill me.”). The perfect accessory were some rabbit ears from her cousins’ Grammy. Prêt à porter.

Meanwhile, her brother got himself up to his usual hi-jinx. Aside: You never know how much child-proofing you’ve done to your own place ’til you go to a moderately- to severely-UN-child-proofed place. No wonder we’re on self-imposed house arrest.

The youngest member of our extended family and the oldest reveled in love and goodwill at our multi-family Christmas feastie. I am grateful for them both, and for their co-existence, not least because the eldest, my Pops, is turning 87 in two weeks. I should be so lucky, one day.

I’m hoping you all have had as much rest and rejuvination this past week as we have, whatever its source may be.