Life of a Show Girl (the Twins' Era)

Someone asked me how long my twin sister and I have been "performing" (using term loosely) songs and dances. I think this is the earliest documentation I could find. No date on the photo but I'm guessing we were 2 1/2 or 3 1/2. (I'm the chub-ster on the right.) And yes, based on the very short dresses my sisters were wearing in the dead of winter, it was the '70s folks!

Here we are with a group of cousins singing to Grandpa and Grandma Johnson as part of a family Christmas. This has been quite the long-standing tradition! 

Then throughout childhood, we sang at church things, 4-H things, bridal showers and baby showers (our mom would make up the lyrics), and for nursing residents. That pretty much went by the wayside after high school graduation, but we resurrected it in 2000 in the form of an "opening act" at each of our sister weekends.

So yeah, we're not shy and it's always fun to make people smile! Too bad we're not making billions like that other show girl...

But if you are a fan of hers, there's something in Wisconsin Rapids worth checking out!

Every year the South Wood County Historical Museum hosts a Christmas Tree walk with beautifully and uniquely decorated trees throughout the large home.

This year, some creative Swifties paid homage to her latest album. Cute.

Look closer and you can see the "garland" mimics her trademark friendship bracelets. And, you can grab one off the tree for yourself!

Look even more closely and you'll see song lyrics from multiple albums that tie into winter or Christmas. Great job, ladies!

There are at least two dozen other trees to see – plus decorated mantels, wreaths, rooms. All for a free-will offering for the museum. Check it out this season! 

You might just start singing and dancing yourself!

Pollen and Pirouettes

What an exhausting weekend – between fighting off the evil yellow-green pollen showers, rain showers, dance recitals, grad parties, and golf. Last time I checked, I guess hubby and I survived it all.

For me, Saturday was focused on the Studio 48 recital first. The senior/graduate daughter of one of hubby's golf buddies was having her last recital. Thankfully they sneaked me into practice Friday night so I could capture some images (like the one above) close up and no heads in the way.

But yesterday was a bit of a free-for-all as I kept running into people I knew then looked at the program and realized I knew dancers in 23 of the 40 numbers. Good thing I had a lot of storage on my camera's smart card!

(P.S. When I got out of the recital, I had to head to the car wash since that yellowish-green pollen was clearly winning.)

Also, the whole recital was super entertaining – so I'm glad I could be there and capture some of it. And after sorting through it all and posting photos to about 1:30 a.m. today, you understand why I didn't blog last night.

Today was a busy afternoon as we had time to watch some golf and then play our couples' league. 

After the crack of thunder woke us up today, I headed up to Shippy Shoes where my golf partner said I could get some decent (aka expensive) waterproof golf shoes (that were super comfortable, of course). That worked. And they were my size. And I was pretty encouraged going into tonight's round.

First, the weather cleared up. Secondly, my new water-proof shoes were very comfortable. 

But then third, that darn green-yellowish pollen descended on us the whole round and I have new pine pollen issues to take care off. My poor new shoes! 

I'm just hoping that since they are waterproof, I can hose them down tomorrow, let them dry in the sun, and pretend this episode with Mother Nature never happened. Good luck to you trying to accomplish the same!

Back to My Snow-Covered Roots

It was so fitting that our family Christmas gathering was in Mora, Minnesota, since all of us "original kids" in my family are three-fourths Sweden. 

This 22-foot-tall Dala Horse statue downtown is a replica of the Dalecarlian horses hand carved in Mora, Sweden. And stands a reminder of the community's (and my family's) cultural heritage. Like I said, fitting for a gathering of the other roots in my family tree.

Of course, Saturday dawned sunny and perfectly blue skies after the treacherous Friday night. The snow totals looked something like this:

Not a ton in Rapids, but enough that we're extremely grateful to the next-door neighbor for snowblowing us out so we could arrive home and not have to dig ourselves in. Although our route Friday night caused some serious angst, we were glad we went north first, then west. Had we gone our usual route through Hudson and up, I don't know where we would've ended up. They got 17.9 inches there!

So we had a nice easy drive from our hotel in North Branch up to Freddie's restaurant in Mora. It was a fun relaxing time with a buffet of food (none of us had to make!), our usual family program, and time for games and visiting.

Festive sisters Nell and Ro.

Decorating gingerbread men and women.

RoAnn and her family hosted and it was great! Here they kick off the program. Yup, there was even a stage and microphone available. Like the place was built for us!

I convinced Jim, Carter, and Mamie to participate in the program with me, doing a "2021 by the numbers" thing. Mom was of course the star of the show, singing a some she wrote for a previous program and reminding us all we are "hers." Blessed to have her for another Christmas!

Game time and who has the winning card?! We know where we get our competitive streak!

Made my twin a "Lene's Hallmark Movie Mug" mug!

Silly Siblings Part 1.

Silly Siblings. Part 2. (AKA Silly SKOL Sisters!)

Hit the road home around 4-ish. Had clear roads all the way back the Wisconsin Rapids. Whew.

When we got home, we celebrated Christmas with Mamie since we won't see her on Christmas. She's modeling the vintage Mountain Dew hat Jim picked out and the pink and orange (her fave colors) blanket I crocheted her!

Carter and Mamie headed back to Potosi this afternoon and I caught up on a few things that I couldn't concentrate on Friday morning while packing and fretting over the forecast. I may just sit and watch TV this evening. 

Anything good on?

Socially Long Distancing

When you come from a family of 8 kids and we have spouses or kids or both, it's a big crowd at holidays. Probably bigger than governors in either Minnesota or Wisconsin would allow. So we had to cancel a physical Hedberg Christmas party this year. But today, the virtual one was on!

There were some connectivity issues here and there, but I at least got see about 20 family members on the call at various times today. That includes my mom – thanks to my sister Rachel for having her over and showing her what the Internet is and, most importantly for today, what Zoom is.

Usually we put on a program for Dad and Mom (just Mom now), so a few people had some songs and poems. 

And Mom was even singing and yodeling! That was a treasure!

Due to the pandemic, I hadn't seen 90% of the family since last year's Christmas celebration. Now some of my great-nephews are old enough to talk and sing. That's a measure of what can happen a in year. I got a lump in my throat. Just thinking of how much togetherness we missed out on. It's so sad. Yet so out of our control!

All we can do is stay smart and stay patient so we can stay healthy. 

When we do have the next family gathering, those long "Hedberg goodbyes" are going to be epic! Cannot wait.

Sending virtual hugs to all my family – and friends who are like family – this holiday season!

The Saturday Groove

When you kick off your Saturday with a dance recital, you know it's going to put you in a good groove, er mood. Maybe both.

My friend Cindy and I went to the Variations recital put on by members of Dance with Pam. They had a few themes like Clue (above), a memorial salute, and some Lion King tunes. Pretty entertaining and between Cindy and I, we knew about a dozen of the dancers. So it was nice to be able to capture a photo or two (hundred, that is).

After the recital, Jim and I went down to Wisconsin Dells. My nieces Caryn and Beth and their families (plus a friend and his) were staying at a waterpark this weekend before heading back to school Monday. (Minnesota schools are different that way.) Since the Dells are only an hour away, it's pretty convenient to go see out-of-town or -state guests there.

They had just gotten out of one of the pools, so the eight kiddos on hand were pretty hyped up. Great to see them all and celebrate two birthdays as well. My niece Caryn turns something tomorrow. And her girl Makayla turned 7 today.

Pretty sure I haven't been able to spend an actual birthday with my first-born niece since she was a child. January 4th is about as close as I've gotten in decades. Kind of a blessing!

Love those girls and their families. Definitely kept me in my great groove for the day.

(That and the Titans de-throning the Patriots. Wow. Didn't see that coming.)

Keep on dancing!

Festive Family Fun

The 8 R's and their family units brought some festive family fun to the north woods yesterday. Each year whichever siblings are hosting it choose the date and place and cross fingers we all can make it. This year it was at Skonewood, a fellowship hall we could rent just up the road from "the homestead" outside of Luck. We went up and back so it made for a long but fun day.

There were just shy of 40 of us who made it! Only a few of the grandkids were missing – including our troop since Casey is in Washington, Clay was working, and Carter has finals this week. To make up for the missing, there were a lot of extras this year in the form of girlfriends and adorable little ones. That was fun!

As usual we had our family program – the 55th annual, according to my sisters. I took some pictures of the entertainment but enjoyed capturing the faces of the littles. I'm sharing so my siblings and nieces and nephews can enjoy my view, too!

Renell was our emcee – and she performed the job to a T. (Yup, she successfully rhymed all her introductions!)

We "performed" going from youngest to oldest. My twin Raylene and her family started with their Christmas wishes for all of us!

For our part, Jim and I shared the 12 months of blessings in 2019!

Rachel gathered the littles and read about about Turkey Clause. They were very attentive! And so cute!

Willow

Lyric

Hans

Adryan

Quinn adding a candy cane earring.

Makayla

  

Sasha

Nash

 

My brother wrote and sang a song. Yes, we are all creative and talented!

My sister RoAnn reminded us to find JOY amongst the stress and challenges we face each day.

For Renell's family, my niece Beth (and her boy) helped lead their youngsters in a fun version of Jingle Bells.

 And there were bells!!

That was fun!

My sister Romey and her son Eric (and his new crew) sang for us.

Eric the Red?

Jace the Red-nosed Reindeer

My sister Rayna shared a song she heard on a recent trip to Branson that reminded us to remember Jesus during the Christmas season and every day.

My mom saying, "I can't believe you all belong to ME!"

She also taught the little ones a song she used to sing as a girl.

The winter scenery – including some Frozen props – was a nice photo backdrop. Here's Rayna and Paul enjoying the quiet corner.

Renell and her crew!!

Raylene and her family!

Romey, Rick, Eric and his girlfriend Polly and kids.

And Princess Nell of the Northwoods.

Or something!

 

Elsa, Anna and Olaf... also known as Lenesker, Bynski and Olaf!

And Mom and me!

After the program, there was also time for sledding and visiting and more eating and entertaining ourselves.

My brother-in-law Ken has a coloring book supervisor named Kenlee!

Yay for hot chocolate and marshmallows!

My loving sister likes the scarf I crocheted for her! Finally, I can share the fact I've been busy with my hook!

The annual selfie with my niece Caryn. Well, the "every time we see each other" selfie. Ha. I've loved her the longest!

A Christmas hug with my SKOL sister RoAnn! We both got part of our Christmas gift today when the Vikings won. Now, the second part when they beat the Packers! SKOL!

And finally... a visit to see Dad. I know he was with us in spirit and so very proud of his children and grandchildren. Just like Mom, I bet he was bragging to the angels, "Yep. They all belong to me!"

I know I would. Love my family!