Holmen Christmas 2006
The Christmas trees are up and decorated and we are running late in
publishing our annual Christmas letter. So, here goes the 2006
edition. The biggest news, of course, was the trip to Germany to
attend and being part of the wedding of an exchange daughter in
August. Christiane stayed with us in 1992-93 and we have
exchanged visits several times since then. Since she gave us
plenty of advance notice of the wedding in August, there was no
question about going. Also, we each had parts in the
wedding. She asked me to do the father-of-the-bride honors since
her father had died in 2005. The weather held so we didn't get
wet during the walk from the hotel to the church. Also,
Christiane asked if I would do a multi-media (slide) show at the
reception using pictures of her and Kai-Arne. That involved a bit
of international back and forth as family members in Germany selected
pictures which were scanned by her brother. I retrieved the
images using the Internet and added pictures from her exchange year and
their USA trip in 2005. Her brother furnished the
three computers while I brought the three video projectors with
me. Got hand checked by airport security every time! And
the show went without a hitch.
In May I did another slide show for the seniors at graduation in Red
Lodge - that made the 10th one. It still allows me to have some
connection to school and keep active with photography and creating
shows. So far, it seems that I've worked myself into an annual
commitment.
Another area that continues to develop is folk dancing - surprising
what turns life can take. In March I led the instruction for the
district workshop in Fargo. Maren was able to help - nice to have
someone to push around - as it was during her spring break. Also,
it was the weekend that the Red River was rising and, from our hotel
window, we could see trucks hauling material for dikes. I think
we left town before the river crested. Then in July it was the
Bjørnetann (Beartooth) Language & Cultural Camp sponsored by
the Sons of Norway and held in mountains south of Red Lodge. And
in August it was the Festival of Nations. Our Scandinavian
Dancers are getting more experienced (read - older) and we are still
have a good time.
Some of you are working on family history projects so you know it is
interesting but never ending also. In August and after the
wedding, we traveled to Norway and spent most of the time visiting
people instead of sightseeing. One of the days, we met a Holmen
cousin who contacted me in June indicating he would be in Norway in
late August and wanted to know where our ancestors had lived.
Since we would be in Norway the same time, I suggested we meet and
travel together. With the help of a cousin (Andi's) guiding us,
we visited a third cousin, the church cemetery, and the farm where our
grandfather lived. It goes by two names - Björnenga or
Holmengen under or on the Holmen farm. It's easy to see that
farming there could not have been the easiest. In the afternoon
we went to the farm where our grandmother's parents lived which I had
visited before. T'was a very good day, especially for my cousin.
There are always projects in the works:
- scanning and organizing family pictures of my mother's family
and trying to determine a way to share them and the story that goes
with each picture.
- improving the garden with adding more ground and screening out
the rocks (anyone in need of some?), adding a fence to keep the deer
and moose from eating their salads. The best crop continues to be
the raspberries but have better hopes for the strawberries next year.
- and working on a workshop in the garage so it can be
heated. Then it's on to doing some woodworking - bookcases, wall
systems, etc.
We are now a 'green' family - the lawn tractor and big tractor were
green and orange, a John Deere and an Allis Chalmers. Now both
Little Johnny and Big John are green and Big John has MFWD (mechanical
front wheel drive). A definite plus as it fits with the Western
personna!
God Jul og Godt Nyttår
Bob
Hello again from the mother of the family! This was my year to
become TRULY retired. After retiring from teaching a year ago last
June, I gave up my volunteer services as main
organist/pianist at our church in Red Lodge this July. They now pay a
very nice male music major at MSUB to drive up weekly to play.
The major advantage to the church and music committee, I think, is that
Jason doesn't take time off to go to Minnesota, Germany, Norway, North
Dakota, or Colorado.
But, backing up, we went to Colorado for the famous black belt test
that Kirsten and Manuel survived in January. I guarantee it's
something 
I will never try...
In March, we met Maren in Minnesota, and besides their folk dancing, we
moved Bob's mother Edna (98) to an assisted living apartment in Mora,
Minnesota.
Easter time found us going the 'long way around' to Colorado, via St.
George, Utah, where we stayed with friends Don and Pat Peterson, who
live in Red Lodge in the summer and Utah in the winter... then traveled
to Bryce, Zion and Arches National Monuments on our way to spend Easter
in Longmont with Kirsten and Manuel. What spectacular red colors of
rocks... mixed with snow at that time of year.
Maren had a high school class reunion in Red Lodge in July, so we had
the unusual (except at Christmas) pleasure of having her at home,
however briefly.
As all will mention, the highlight of our summer was a trip to Germany
and Norway to go to the wedding of Christiane, our exchange daughter in
1992-93. We have a collection of pictures from that trip at:
http://www.theholmens.net/CAKwedding.htm
We also visited Franziska's family in Wannweil and Franziska and her
husband Daniel in Freiburg, where Franziska teaches kindergarten and
Daniel studies at the University... (We went to their wedding 2 years
ago. Franziska was our exchange daughter in 2000-2001.) 
After
Christiane and Kai-Arne's wedding, we visited Christine and her family
near Kristiansand, Norway... (Christine lived with us in
2001-2002.) Christine is currently living in London and has done
some modelling there.
It has become a Thanksgiving tradition for all of us to get together in
Longmont for Thanksgiving. (Bob and I drive down and Maren flies
in.) I'm delighted that Kirsten and Manuel now attend to the
cooking of the turkey and potatoes! I will get my turn at
Christmas with lefse, Norwegian meatballs, and fruit soup... Bob gets
to make the lutefisk.
Andrea
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