We were invited to lunch today at the home of Kari, the niece to Janet Rudd. It was a wonderful day and in the sparkling eyes of Kari, I recognized a woman who I could form a deep friendship with enough time. Our time was short, however, since both Kari and her husband had a work deadline hanging over their heads. So we had a wonderful lunch and shared stories and then it as time to leave. As we left, Sam and their 12 year old son, Knut were wanting to spend more time together, so Knut we invited Knut to join us for the day. We headed to the National Museum so that Sam could see Edvard Munch’s original painting of “The Scream”. Then, Knut gave us a tour of the opera house, where he had been in a production. We ended our time at a Christmas Concert at the Cathedral in which Kari had so generously gotten us tickets.

We were surprised when we arrived 30 minutes early for the concert and the main section of the cathedral was already full. The seating is in the shape of a cross and we ended up in the right hand side of the t. I positioned us as far to the left of our pew as possible in hopes that we would be able to see part of the choir. As the music started the choir came down the main aisle. A group broke off and came and sat behind us, another group was directly across from us, a group was on the alter and then a group we could not see at all were in the back of the Church. The sound was amazing. I felt the music enter and fill every cell of my being. My eyes closed, not because of exhaustion, but rather to more fully take in the beauty of it all. I have never felt so overcome by music as I was at this Christmas concert. I felt bathed, filled, blessed and renewed, ready to welcome the light of Christmas.