Christmas with Paul Jacobsen

This man continues to be the very best role model for my old age. No, not Santa! Paul Jacobsen is 92 and smiles and laughs heartily every day. I was visiting him last week, organizing things a little for him now that he has lost his driving license to macular degeneration. Coming back from a trip to the shops he fell on the steps rushing to open the door for me. He fell 2 steps and landed on his sacrum and elbow. He was a little dazed but stood up, nothing broken. A nice juicy bruise developed on his elbow over the next few days. We took him to the doctor who gave him a clean bill of health. Paul credits his commando training during WW2 for his perfect tuck and roll.

We went to numerous Sons of Norway events. One was the annual lutefisk dinner at the Scandanavian Center. Not a fan of lutefisk. It's embellished with a bucket of butter and a vat of bacon bits. Other than the taste of those two fats there is little to the dish except a very peculiar texture - kind of jelly like. It's as if all the codness had been extracted, leaving only the cell walls and they have been filled up with gelatin. Whatever gets you through the winter.

Then we went to a Christmas dinner luncheon at Newlands Golf Club in Langley. Huge buffet! Tons of Desserts. I had to wait for eons for a second pumpkin pie to be brought out. Lots of singing after dinner. A 50/50 draw. Door prizes and checks presented to the choir.

We put up a Christmas tree for Paul and dragged out a bunch of tapes and CD's my mother had purchased from Readers Digest - more Christmas music than you can imagine and most of it unopened. We also found a stack of Vinyl - Norwegian folk songs and dance songs - mostly accordion music. We watched Singing in the Rain one night. That Gene Kelley is an amazing dancer.

Paul has this picture of him dancing with a 30 year old blond bombshell! We had it made into a photo Christmas card for him and helped him send a bunch off to friends and family in Norway. Won't they be surprised he is doing so well - but maybe they won't :>)

I wonder what Paul wants for Christmas?