Chapter 12.7 – December 2023: part I – I'm dreaming of..

This December morning in the Rasmussen household started like so many others – with Silvia waking up first and loudly proclaiming as best as she could that she felt hungry and needed food – now! Solvej was having a slow morning and would rather have slept for atleast an hour or two more, but Patrik was on the spot to happily cater to the needs of his little favourite football player...

 

Solvej realized though there was no use in going back to bed now that she was more or less fully awake, so she might as well just go upstairs and prepare a pumpkin pie for herself and Rune when he woke up – and Patrik, as soon as he was done feeding Silvia.. and scoring, well, almost everytime.

 

Patrik wasn't to interested in food or Solvejs cake this morning, he would much rather spend some more time chatting and babbling with his new little favourite girl...

 

In these last days before the christmas holidays Rune had noticed a new poster in the school hallway advertising for a course in painting that he wanted to join. After his grandpa had given him a glimpse of what can be done with a simple canvas, a brush and acrylic paint, Rune wanted to go a little further and learn more about the art of combining colours to create a palette and use it to paint a picture...

    The downside was of course that the course came at a price, and Rune didn't get enough in weekly allowance to be able to afford it without going several weeks without buying his favourite cartoon, or spending it all on soda and candy... so he needed to ask his mom for a little bit of extra money.. He knew there was no point in asking his father...

    'Painting...? Why would you want to do that..? Listen son, I'd gladly buy you a new pair of football trainers if you need'em... but a course in painting? Can't they teach you that at school...?'

    He would just completely miss the point.. sure, they've done some painting in class during school hours.. but this was a different type of class, for those that wants to take their painting to a level that goes beyond painting the same shaped house from the same angle everytime..

Solvej was excited at the idea of his son wanting to tap more into his creative side and gave him the money to send him on his way without hesitation. She was already looking forward to see what he could come up with. Though Solvej wasn't much of a painter herself, art, music, vibrant colours... and plants.. where many of the things that gave meaning to Solvejs life. It had always been that way for as long as she could remember... and family, of course. Togetherness.

    It would be another wish come true if she could raise a beautiful set of kids that would all, in their own unique way, be a creative force to spread colour, life and joy to the world.. There were just way to much of the grey, the colourless, the dead 'dime-a-dozens' without any semblance of a soul...

The fields were already frozen when Rune went outside to hop on his bike, excited to go to his first painting class! The poster said it was 'only' a beginners course suitable for everyone aged 12 and up.. but he could already picture himself painting vast fantastic landscapes, mountains, forests, rivers and waterfalls.. maybe even some unicorns or dragons.. Maybe one of the mountains was a volcano spitting fire and brimstone. Or maybe there was a castle on top of a hill. Or a modern, futuristic city with flying cars and spaceships.. The possibilities were endless.. or atleast as far as he could imagine..

 

After he had walked out the door it was Lilians turn to wake up and call for her parents attention. She wasn't hungry yet, but in dire need of a diaper changed – which was very apparent as soon as the entered the room...

    "Oh boy, I think we need to open a window or two in here...."

 

Lilian wasn't fully potty trained yet, but she had discovered something really interesting behind that door at the end of the hallway anyway..

This strange object made of a white hard material for some reason filled with water – it was the perfect toy to play with. There was another white object to her left – next to what mom and dad called "the potty" - it was taller and looked a little different, but she knew there had to be water in that one too. She had seen mom and dad use it to rub the water on their hands. She couldn't reach up to that one – it was way to big. She could only, but just barely, reach down to the water in this much smaller object.

    Mom and dad didn't like her doing it though.. they said it was "yucky" and "ew". Sometimes when they found her doing it, they would lift her up and say "no no no" and put her down again on the potty..

 

Daddy would say the white smaller object was called "a toilet", and that it was where mom and dad and brother went to do their poo poo and pee pee, just like she did on the potty, and that she shouldn't put her hands down there.. but daddy would sometimes put his hand down the potty, but he never looked happy doing so.

What a strange room this was. There was another even bigger "toilet" on the other end of the room. Sometimes mom would fill the big toilet with water, and put her down in it and rub the water all over her and in her hair making it all wet. She did it just now to this other annoying one that kind of looked like her and that would always get in the way to play with everything she wanted to play with..

    It was one of her favourite moments to be in the water – except for the hair rubbing, she hated that– and apparently so did the other annoying one as she could see her wince and try to push mommys hand away. That never helped, because mommy was to big, much bigger than them, and they always had to get their hair rubbed.

After the painting course Rune had gathered outside in the schoolyard to talk a little bit more about what they had just learned with the other participants (most of them adults). However, the frost had been replaced with mild weather and rain, so standing out there talking for to long wasn't the most tempting thing, so after a brief exchange of words it was time to go home again..

..where Patrik was getting his daily workout, and Lilian was practicing her musicality on the xylophone..

 

..and Silvia was downstairs after her bath being perfectly clean, but in no way finished splashing around with water, it was just much to fun...

 

..and at the fire station local fire fighter Wendy Strandheim was just getting better and better at maintaing the fire alarm. No fire should be allowed to run rampant in this town, not on her watch, definately not..  

    Never again... she was determined to make sure of that... The safety of the people – and herself – was the most important thing.. safety... and freedom.... She was doing much better now, but she still had her dreams at night, and other dreams during daytime...

 

After Rune had returned home he wanted to spend some quality time with his dad, so he interrupted his workout to ask him about something he hoped he would enjoy... He remembered how much fun he had throwing the foot-to-hand ball in the park with Samira earlier, and thought it would be the perfect thing to do with his father as well..

 

Patrik, after hearing this question from his son, couldn't have been happier! How wonderful it is to be blessed with such athletic children! Of course my boy, let's go out and throw some ball!

 

Of course, Rune would soon learn that throwing ball with dad – a professional athlete already – would be a very different experience from doing the same with Samira..

 

Him and Samira were just kids playfully throwing the ball back and forth, but dad knew how to deliver a hard and fast one.. throwing ball with dad was learning the hard way! Rune was a big boy now, almost 13 years old.. the sooner he learned to dodge and catch a real throw, the better!

 

While the boys were having their fun (or 'fun') throwing the ball, Solvej had to take some time again to look after her plants in the greenhouse. The toddlers were alright inside, all fed and clean again, playing with each their toy upstairs.

 

Patrik and Rune kept throwing the ball back and forth until a good while after sunset, until Rune became to tired to continue. Dad was definately a few levels above him when it came to ball throwing, so right now he felt more like wanting to go back to the easel and brush to paint.. This sport thing wasn't all that great.. right now..

 

He just had to check his bed again for monsters, hoping that they had taken off to somewhere far away.. and it looks like they had, because there were none to be found right now.. he still thought he wanted to sleep in grandmas bunk bed.. just to make sure.. they might just be very good at hiding, tucked away in the dark corner, waiting for him to fall asleep... they might just..

It was getting late for Silvia too, and since neither mom nor dad was inside yet to put her in her crib, she took matters into her own hands to crawl up on the couch to take a rest in what had become her own little napping spot..

 

Cuteness overload. ;)

 

Solvej still had plenty of garden work to do, so it was Patrik that had to find his little sporty angel to pick her up and put her in the crib to go to sleep for the night. ;)

 

Aside from there not being monsters under any of the beds, Rune was also hoping for a white christmas this year, and just had to check the weather channel one more time before going to bed.

    The forecast said temperatures should drop again, and that there would be snow, but he wasn't excactly trusting it just yet. He had to see it for himself first.. but he really hoped to wake up to his last christmas before turning 13 and find snow.. and he would make the most amazing snow man, and igloo and of course, have plenty of snowball fights... he hoped..
    Lilian, having only experienced one christmas before, was still to young to fully understand what it was all about, so she didn't care much yet if there would be snow or not.. Right now she just wanted to be fed, and then it was bedtime. She had heard them talk about it – this holiday season and christmas eve, but it was a completely foreign concept in her mind.. something was going to happen, but she didn't know what it was.. as long as it wasn't anything to scary, it would probably be alright...

    Patrik wasn't gonna dress up as Santa Claus this year.. Rune was way to old to care, and Lilian and Silvia to young to understand.. Solvej had told him not too, for fear of the toddlers getting scared, and Patrik had no objection.. Dressing up as Santa Claus wasn't his favourite thing anyway, and if the kids didn't care, it was all fine by him...

 

Finally all the kids were asleep and the parents could have a small moment where it was just them while eating what was left of the pumpkin pie for supper..

 

..talking briefly about tomorrow, the decorations, the food and the festive joyous spirit.. and even though they were both adults, they both still had a child in them hoping for a white christmas.... just like the ones they used to know.. well, atleast for Patrik who grew up just some miles inland from here.. Solvej who grew up further south had really only longingly seen white christmases on postcards as a child...

..but still, who knows, they might all just get their wish fulfilled this year. Good night. ;)

 

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